DESCRIPTION OF THE CHARACTER: Ségolène recently turned 21, she is a Beauxbatons graduate who is just about to start her new job as an assistant librarian at Beauxbatons about which she is very excited. She is a very introverted and quiet person who is empathetic and doesn't want to intrude in anything. She is often vague and distracted, having trouble to focus on anything for a long time. The aspiring librarian loves to read and just to dream. While she likes people and will always try to make friends and help, she is scared of large groups of people and noise. Due to the fact that she gets a glimpse of the past every now and then when she touches other people, the young woman is very interested in the past and history. She always wants to learn about the context in which single events stand. She is a traditionalist, sticking to old values and sometimes frowning at progress.

One of the first visions she was actually aware of was early during her time at Beauxbatons, when she saw Zoé Deveaux in a scene connected to the elemental council. She did not understand it until after the rogue attack at the school and slowly became aware not only of her special ability to see things from the past but also of the existence of elemental magic and the fact that people kept secrets from others.

Seeing some rather dramatic and intimate things over the years has made Ségolène rather frightened of her visions as she doesn't want to cross any lines. She feels like it's her mistake when she learns about a secret because of a vision and most of the time she keeps her realisations to herself.

APPLICATION: This idea for this character came up weeks, even months ago, and has not left. On the contrary, when I watched a documentary about Françoise Hardy I felt like the character had come alive already. The shy girl who doesn't want to hurt anyone, who is kind, empathetic and often awkward around others... She is a young woman who is both blessed and burdened with the ability to see things from other people's past when she touches them. Naturally this does not happen every time she touches another person and is quite unforeseeable.

Ségolène, therefore, avoids to touch other people as she does not want to know things others keep secret. She respects their privacy and feels like she is intruding when she sees things. Furthermore the visions are very exhausting, making it hard for her to pretend that nothing happened. Usually she needs to rest after a vision, continuing her day as planned is barely possible after such an incident.

Sometimes Ségolène cannot make sense of her visions and then she cannot just let it go but will quietly investigate further until she understands what she has seen. However, she usually won't confront others with the things she has seen. There are exceptions, of course.

Getting these glimpses of the past makes her look back a lot. She usually is more interested in the past then the future as the past seems close and the future so distant. It will make it possible to relive moments from a character's past and bring them back into the present time which I think is a good thing for the roleplay because there are some really interesting backgrounds that are barely used for the present plots.

For me as a roleplayer it will be interesting to see how she deals with finding out things that she should not know, things others want to keep secret or aren't even aware of themselves. As mentioned above the girl does not want to have these visions but they also fascinate her as they open a door to the past. Sometimes the things she sees are fuzzy, barely comprehensible, so she will try to figure out what they are about as she cannot just forget what she saw. There will even be moments when she feels like she has to get involved. It'll also be interesting to see how others react to her when they find out that she might have seen things from their past and might do so again when they touch.

FUTURE PLOTS:With her job at Beauxbatons there's a lot of potential for future plots that involve her special feature. Here are some that I've worked out with other members so far.

Aline Stanton: Ségolène will visit London at some point when she has a few days off. There she gets sick and goes to St. Mungos where Aline tends to her. When the healer touches her Ségolène sees how Aline got the potion to abort her pregnancy. Her shock because of this will probably show and Aline will notice that something's wrong which will bring Ségolène into an awkward situation.Émilie Côté: While they haven't been overly close during their time at school, they are still on friendly terms. Ségolène meets Émilie again after quite some time and the other girl hugs her before she can do anything against it. Then Ségolène sees that Émilie and Volker broke up. To her Émilie and Volker were a perfect couple and it's a confusing thought that they aren't together anymore. Therefore, Ségolène breaks with her usual habit of not letting show that she saw something and will ask Émilie about the reasons for the break up.Gaston Malinat: When they shake hands, Ségolène sees something about his past. She struggles to make sense of it at first but works it out after a while. He has left his old life behind and has become a professor without the proper background. She doesn't know what to do with the knowledge and will have to figure out if she should tell anyone or keep it to herself.Diederick van Dijk: While he is younger than Ségolène they have been friends for a while. One day Ségolène will see an incident with a toaster from Diederick's past and she probably won't be able to keep quiet about that and rather tease the boy and might give him a toaster for his birthday or for Christmas.Eloise Tessier: Eloise has been in her year at Beauxbatons and they have been friends at school. However, after their graduation they had little contact. Then, when they meet again after quite some time, Ségolène has a vision about a bunny she cannot make sense of. She will try to find out what connection there is and will enquire further until, one day, she finds out about Eloise being an animagus.Dino Caviezel: Ségolène will have a very fuzzy kind of vision of Dino, revealing the fact that his father is not really his father. It will be interesting to see how she interacts with Dino then. She will probably try to find out if he knows about this by asking some innocent questions and seeing how he reacts.Sebastian Chatard: Bastian has been kidnapped by his grandparents and been brought to 'new' parents when he was five years old. He has been influenced so that he does not really remember what has happened and sees his new family as his biological family. Ségolène will get a brief glimpse of him with the Westbroek family and this will make her think and be more observant of him and the Westbroek family members who are at Beauxbatons. We haven't worked out the extent of this plot yet but there are plenty of chances to make a long term thing out of that.Nieks Krusen: At some point Nieks will see when she has a vision and will observe her and enquire further. He'll be curious to learn what that was about and will sooner or later find out about her ability. For Ségolène this will be strange as for once it's not her seeing something from the other person's life but someone kind of spying on her life. It'll be awkward and frightening for her but her secret is safe with Nieks.

RP SAMPLE USING THE FEATURE:Ségolène saw her old friend from afar and slowed down. She was actually looking forward to meeting him again but she recalled very well how he used to touch her arm, brush a strand of hair out of her face or poke her side when he would try to make her smile. All this was innocent, pleasant, even cute but the girl feared his touch. They hadn't spoken in a while and the last time they had met he had spoken about the war going on in wizarding Britain and how he'd want to help. Ségolène felt relatively certain that he had gone there, that he had been involved. Obviously he had survived but what had he seen?

Sometimes when she touched someone she had these flashbacks, these postcognitive visions. She didn't want to see the war! She lowered her gaze when she approached him, feeling tense and uncomfortable. "Salut," she whispered, briefly looking up to offer him a little smile. When he made a decisive step forward, she tried to evade but he had already pulled her into a hug. It was warm and comforting and she sighed in relief when she realised that this time she was not seeing anything.

He laughed, held her at arm's length and lifted her chin with his hand so they'd have eye contact. He asked what was wrong with her and Ségolène felt how a blush crept up her cheeks. She could not tell him about her visions. It was not anything she was proud of but rather something she saw as a burden. Sometimes she saw these very intimate scenes from other people's lives. They were usually about something people tried to hide from others and she could see them, she could invade their privacy and the girl felt guilty because of it.

"Everything's alright," she muttered, feeling how the tension of her body lessened the longer he was holding her. She even managed a genuine smile.

'Then give me a little kiss,' her friend demanded. Again she blushed but she did as he told her.

As her lips touched his cheek she saw the border of a forest, flashes of light and him. He was shooting spells at a masked man. The fight seemed to continue for hours when, in fact, she only saw a minute or two of it. Suddenly the masked figure was catapulted backwards and hit the ground hard. He didn't move anymore.

She retreated, pale and shocked. She wasn't sure how long her lips had been on his cheek. She wasn't sure either if he had killed someone. It had been in a battle, it had been one of the dark wizards, but still - her friend had killed another person. She shuddered, unable to speak for the time being.

After being a member of this site for eons, this is my first Elemental application, but the feature has always been very appealing to me. Although I've always had a desire to apply for this feature, I never felt as though I had any character who truly seemed like an elemental to me, until now. When I created Ivy, I honestly did not have the intent of making her an Elemental, but after some forcing suggestions from a few other members, I began to see how well this feature would fit her.

In applying for this feature, I realized that this does not change Ivy. In fact, at the core, she will still be the same person with or without this feature. What I'm most excited about is how much more I will be able to do with her plot-wise that I don't have the opportunity to do with my other characters. Ivy can still remain the clumsy, awkward teen that she is, but I can be involved in other aspects of MH with her. I love having the opportunity for plots, but I'm often left stuck with what plots can I do--Ivy being an Elemental opens up a lot of opportunity for me as a member here to have an abundance of fun, new and exciting plots as well as doing something different with a character that I haven't done before.

As I stated earlier, I've been fascinated by all the special features here at MH, but especially Elementalism, because it is so unique to this site. I've been wanting to play a special feature since I've started here, but I wanted to make sure it fit with one of my characters, rather than just shooting in the dark and hoping something fit. Almost a decade later (wow I'm old), I have Ivy who I believe fits this special feature very well.

Of all the elements, I think it's almost painfully obvious that the most fitting for Ivy is Earth. She is simple and kind, honest and loyal. Although she is not the brightest girl, her heart is huge, willing to give to anyone. Her empathy is unending--if someone comes to her as a shoulder to cry on, she will end up crying with them. She only knows compassion and has a somewhat naive understanding of the world, believing that everyone wants to be helped and wants a friend. Similar to what is stated in the Elemental background information, Ivy is exceptionally warm hearted, loving and she can be generous to a fault. She'll often stretch herself thin to help out other people, whether or not they will return the sentiment, because she desires for everyone to be happy and feel loved.

Besides this, Ivy already has an inclination towards plants and animals and her skill with the two is surprising, considering she does poorly in most intellectual situations. Her intelligence can be seen in her handling of living things--her natural green thumb, her innate knowledge of animal behavior, and her emotional understanding of other people. She is talented with anything involved hands on work, but seems to struggle with wand magic, even from her first year she was never quite able to grasp wand magic; it's always being hands on learning for Ivy.

The Hufflepuff enjoys the outdoors greatly more than the indoors. As a child her mother would often have to drag her inside or repeatedly explain why it wasn't a good idea to play outside in the rain during a lightening storm. Now as a slightly bigger child, Ivy will often spend as much time outside as she possibly can. She'll work on homework outside, spend time hiking along the outside of the forest, or find reasons to take long walks to classes that will bring her outside. If bad weather--non stop rain, blizzards, etc--keep her inside for too long, she often becomes moody and easily upset, but as soon as the sun shines through or the weather lets up enough, she's back outside. The recent dome over Hogwarts has left her spending most of her time in the greenhouses, where she can be at least be surrounded by and taking care of plants.

As of right now, should Ivy get approved for Elementalism, I plan on having her being quite uncontrolled with it. Since she's older, 16, and most other Elementals seem to discover their powers earlier and therefore begin to study earlier, I plan on taking Ivy along the lines of a young witch or wizard first exhibiting their magic. It comes in bursts, often fueled by a strong emotion--for instance, since in the first year of studying the element, the elemental would be able to produce small amounts of earth. Should Ivy be feeling sad or mad, since her emotions are already easy to switch, I would see her producing the small amounts of Earth, but not understanding why. In addition, with the Dome surrounding the school, Ivy has had little chance to be outside and with plants and animals. She would begin to get sick, since she has been out of her element--lol, get it?--for a long period. This would lead to my first plot:

@Linnet Willowsong -- A fellow Hufflepuff seventh year who has already been studying the Element and has had the opportunity to go to Inverness. With the Dome currently over Hogwarts, Ivy has no where to turn for help or teaching at the moment. Since Linnent is an older student who has been studying, Ivy would turn to her for help and to understand what is happening and why, using Linnet as a pseudo-teacher to help her deal with her ability and get over being sick because of lack of resource to her element while they wait until she can get to Inveness.

@Audra Baxter -- A seventh year air elemental. Ivy would view Elementalism as a secret and be frightened of it at first. Since the war is only recently ended and she suffered the fear of having a muggle parent, she would be nervous to have something else that might outcast her. She would limit the time she spent studying and practicing her element to ensure it was done in secret, until hearing the whispers and gossip of Audra also being an Elemental, since she doesn't hide her ability as much. This would lead to Ivy becoming more accepting of her gift and less fearful of it.

@Basil Stringfellow -- Her BFF. Basil is Ivy's closest, and possibly best friend, however she is currently unaware of him being a Parselmouth. He enjoys trying to impress her and make her happy, so once she shows him her ability to make plants grow and summon earth, he would in turn show her how he can speak to snakes--which Ivy would love since she views them as slippery, legless babies. Although it's as much of a "I'll show you mine, if you show me yours" kind of deal, it gives Ivy a chance to be open with her ability to someone who is not an Elemental.

@Zoé Deveaux-- An adult Ice Elemental. Both Ivy and Zoé would want to get along with each other, particularly Ivy who wants to make everyone happy. However, due to their clashing elements, the two would be uncomfortable with each other, thus giving me a chance to explore how Ivy would behave around someone who she can't understand why she doesn't enjoy being around, despite both girls wanting to try to be comfortable around each other.

@Dragos Şerbănescu -- Guy who is obsessed with Elementals. Ivy and Dragons would meet either when the Dome is broken or after Ivy can finally leave Hogwarts. At this point, Ivy would be more open and accepting of her ability, which trigger's Dragos' interest in her. Since Ivy is a trusting and naive individual, she listens to him and lets him study her--taking her blood, asking her questions, making her demonstrate her abilities. Ivy has never really gotten herself into a dangerous or questionable situation before and this will be the first time her naturally trusting instinct will get her into a weird situation.

In addition to these plots, I also have some threads lined up for her that involve meeting other Elementals and learning about her abilities with Elementalism.

Ivy sighed, relieved that after days of being unable to leave her dorm she was reunited with her green babies in the greenhouse. But as she walked in, her stomach dropped. The days, or possibly weeks, she wasn't sure of time anymore of being trapped in the castle had left her unable to tend to her newest batch of flowers. Now they sat in their pots, obviously unattended, browning and dying.

Her heart beat a little faster as she thought about all the time she invested into growing the plants from little seeds, now wilted and dried in front of her. As usual, she was unable to control her emotions, and tears began streaming down her cheeks. She hated this dome--this thing that was ruining everything. The teen had been unable to walk by the lake or even have a snowball fight in recent weeks due to the dark things that she wasn't quite able to understand. Ivy had begun to feel sick in recent time, what she assumed to be "cabin fever" or general restlessness of her carefree schedule being interrupted. She was stressed out and snappy at her friends for no reason, and now as she looked are her dying plants, she felt anger boil up inside her.

In a dramatic flair, the Hufflepuff threw her bag onto the ground and stomped her feet, letting out a sad wail. All her hard work, ruined. Defeated, she fell onto the floor in a sad pile, crossing her feet criss cross style, as usual, as she tried to think what she might be able to do to save the plants. However, the more she exhausted option after option--that fertilizer from Hogsmeade? No, she couldn't get there. The special water additive that the Herbology teacher kept? No, they had been out of that for weeks now.--the angrier Ivy became at everything that was beyond her control. She folded her arms, letting out a huff.

For moment, Ivy felt the ground under her shake slightly. No enough to really raise alarm--it could be someone moving something heavy nearby--but Ivy raised an eyebrow. She looked down and in the dirt by her leg, a small flower appeared. It was nothing noteworthy in variety, but Ivy let out a small gasp. It happened again, the thing she couldn't explain or figure out. She stood up quickly, looking around to see if anyone was around her or had noticed the small flower appear. The teen backed away, frightened from a flower. It was hard for her to explain, even to herself, so she had kept the...weirdness, as she had begun to call it, to herself. Maybe she hadn't been paying attention and that little flower had been there the whole time. Maybe when she angrily poked the ash in the fire pit in her common room earlier today and it turned to dirt was just a fluke of some kind, maybe she had been confused.

Ivy breathed in and out slowly, trying not to pay attention to her confusion and instead turned to her dying plants. They looked so sad, bent over like that, like they had been looking for someone to give them water. Ivy felt a few more hot tears sting in her eyes as she thought about how abandoned the poor things must have felt. A few droplets of tears fell off her face and as she gently touched the leaves of plant she was looking at. Ivy's brown eyes widened, swearing that the flower had just turned a little greener and perked up a little.

"What the fu--" Ivy cut herself off, blinking at the plant in confusion, moving her hand away. She had to be imagining things, this wasn't that happened in real life, not even in the wizarding word. Shaking her head, Ivy moved quickly, knowing curfew was coming up and began to fill a water pot for the plants. She watered quickly, noticing that ask she did so, each plant began to perk up exceptionally fast. Ivy's eyebrows furrowed, not understanding how they could seem to regain life so quickly.

A bell chimed in the distance. Curfew. She had to return to her dorm now. Ivy turned, ready to grab her things as a wave of nausea came over her. The thought of going inside made her head swim, she was so tired of being in those walls, unable to catch a fresh breeze for who knows how long. The longer she had been spending inside, the sicker she felt, but she couldn't explain the sensation to anyone. No one understood the longing she had to be out of classrooms and hallways and just stand outside for hours, even in the cold air of January.

Letting out another sigh and composing herself once more, Ivy swung her bag over her shoulder and began to head back into the castle.

DESCRIPTION OF THE CHARACTER: Ségolène recently turned 21, she is a Beauxbatons graduate who is just about to start her new job as an assistant librarian at Beauxbatons about which she is very excited. She is a very introverted and quiet person who is empathetic and doesn't want to intrude in anything. She is often vague and distracted, having trouble to focus on anything for a long time. The aspiring librarian loves to read and just to dream. While she likes people and will always try to make friends and help, she is scared of large groups of people and noise. Due to the fact that she gets a glimpse of the past every now and then when she touches other people, the young woman is very interested in the past and history. She always wants to learn about the context in which single events stand. She is a traditionalist, sticking to old values and sometimes frowning at progress.

One of the first visions she was actually aware of was early during her time at Beauxbatons, when she saw Zoé Deveaux in a scene connected to the elemental council. She did not understand it until after the rogue attack at the school and slowly became aware not only of her special ability to see things from the past but also of the existence of elemental magic and the fact that people kept secrets from others.

Seeing some rather dramatic and intimate things over the years has made Ségolène rather frightened of her visions as she doesn't want to cross any lines. She feels like it's her mistake when she learns about a secret because of a vision and most of the time she keeps her realisations to herself.

APPLICATION: This idea for this character came up weeks, even months ago, and has not left. On the contrary, when I watched a documentary about Françoise Hardy I felt like the character had come alive already. The shy girl who doesn't want to hurt anyone, who is kind, empathetic and often awkward around others... She is a young woman who is both blessed and burdened with the ability to see things from other people's past when she touches them. Naturally this does not happen every time she touches another person and is quite unforeseeable.

Ségolène, therefore, avoids to touch other people as she does not want to know things others keep secret. She respects their privacy and feels like she is intruding when she sees things. Furthermore the visions are very exhausting, making it hard for her to pretend that nothing happened. Usually she needs to rest after a vision, continuing her day as planned is barely possible after such an incident.

Sometimes Ségolène cannot make sense of her visions and then she cannot just let it go but will quietly investigate further until she understands what she has seen. However, she usually won't confront others with the things she has seen. There are exceptions, of course.

Getting these glimpses of the past makes her look back a lot. She usually is more interested in the past then the future as the past seems close and the future so distant. It will make it possible to relive moments from a character's past and bring them back into the present time which I think is a good thing for the roleplay because there are some really interesting backgrounds that are barely used for the present plots.

For me as a roleplayer it will be interesting to see how she deals with finding out things that she should not know, things others want to keep secret or aren't even aware of themselves. As mentioned above the girl does not want to have these visions but they also fascinate her as they open a door to the past. Sometimes the things she sees are fuzzy, barely comprehensible, so she will try to figure out what they are about as she cannot just forget what she saw. There will even be moments when she feels like she has to get involved. It'll also be interesting to see how others react to her when they find out that she might have seen things from their past and might do so again when they touch.

FUTURE PLOTS:With her job at Beauxbatons there's a lot of potential for future plots that involve her special feature. Here are some that I've worked out with other members so far.

Aline Stanton: Ségolène will visit London at some point when she has a few days off. There she gets sick and goes to St. Mungos where Aline tends to her. When the healer touches her Ségolène sees how Aline got the potion to abort her pregnancy. Her shock because of this will probably show and Aline will notice that something's wrong which will bring Ségolène into an awkward situation.Émilie Côté: While they haven't been overly close during their time at school, they are still on friendly terms. Ségolène meets Émilie again after quite some time and the other girl hugs her before she can do anything against it. Then Ségolène sees that Émilie and Volker broke up. To her Émilie and Volker were a perfect couple and it's a confusing thought that they aren't together anymore. Therefore, Ségolène breaks with her usual habit of not letting show that she saw something and will ask Émilie about the reasons for the break up.Gaston Malinat: When they shake hands, Ségolène sees something about his past. She struggles to make sense of it at first but works it out after a while. He has left his old life behind and has become a professor without the proper background. She doesn't know what to do with the knowledge and will have to figure out if she should tell anyone or keep it to herself.Diederick van Dijk: While he is younger than Ségolène they have been friends for a while. One day Ségolène will see an incident with a toaster from Diederick's past and she probably won't be able to keep quiet about that and rather tease the boy and might give him a toaster for his birthday or for Christmas.Eloise Tessier: Eloise has been in her year at Beauxbatons and they have been friends at school. However, after their graduation they had little contact. Then, when they meet again after quite some time, Ségolène has a vision about a bunny she cannot make sense of. She will try to find out what connection there is and will enquire further until, one day, she finds out about Eloise being an animagus.Dino Caviezel: Ségolène will have a very fuzzy kind of vision of Dino, revealing the fact that his father is not really his father. It will be interesting to see how she interacts with Dino then. She will probably try to find out if he knows about this by asking some innocent questions and seeing how he reacts.Sebastian Chatard: Bastian has been kidnapped by his grandparents and been brought to 'new' parents when he was five years old. He has been influenced so that he does not really remember what has happened and sees his new family as his biological family. Ségolène will get a brief glimpse of him with the Westbroek family and this will make her think and be more observant of him and the Westbroek family members who are at Beauxbatons. We haven't worked out the extent of this plot yet but there are plenty of chances to make a long term thing out of that.Nieks Krusen: At some point Nieks will see when she has a vision and will observe her and enquire further. He'll be curious to learn what that was about and will sooner or later find out about her ability. For Ségolène this will be strange as for once it's not her seeing something from the other person's life but someone kind of spying on her life. It'll be awkward and frightening for her but her secret is safe with Nieks.

RP SAMPLE USING THE FEATURE:Ségolène saw her old friend from afar and slowed down. She was actually looking forward to meeting him again but she recalled very well how he used to touch her arm, brush a strand of hair out of her face or poke her side when he would try to make her smile. All this was innocent, pleasant, even cute but the girl feared his touch. They hadn't spoken in a while and the last time they had met he had spoken about the war going on in wizarding Britain and how he'd want to help. Ségolène felt relatively certain that he had gone there, that he had been involved. Obviously he had survived but what had he seen?

Sometimes when she touched someone she had these flashbacks, these postcognitive visions. She didn't want to see the war! She lowered her gaze when she approached him, feeling tense and uncomfortable. "Salut," she whispered, briefly looking up to offer him a little smile. When he made a decisive step forward, she tried to evade but he had already pulled her into a hug. It was warm and comforting and she sighed in relief when she realised that this time she was not seeing anything.

He laughed, held her at arm's length and lifted her chin with his hand so they'd have eye contact. He asked what was wrong with her and Ségolène felt how a blush crept up her cheeks. She could not tell him about her visions. It was not anything she was proud of but rather something she saw as a burden. Sometimes she saw these very intimate scenes from other people's lives. They were usually about something people tried to hide from others and she could see them, she could invade their privacy and the girl felt guilty because of it.

"Everything's alright," she muttered, feeling how the tension of her body lessened the longer he was holding her. She even managed a genuine smile.

'Then give me a little kiss,' her friend demanded. Again she blushed but she did as he told her.

As her lips touched his cheek she saw the border of a forest, flashes of light and him. He was shooting spells at a masked man. The fight seemed to continue for hours when, in fact, she only saw a minute or two of it. Suddenly the masked figure was catapulted backwards and hit the ground hard. He didn't move anymore.

She retreated, pale and shocked. She wasn't sure how long her lips had been on his cheek. She wasn't sure either if he had killed someone. It had been in a battle, it had been one of the dark wizards, but still - her friend had killed another person. She shuddered, unable to speak for the time being.

Zeus is very affected by the wolfish-part inside of him. He bears a big part of its traits that reflect in his personality and daily behavior. Some of his habits can reflect this part of him too. For example, when he feels threatened or angry he tends to growl, sounding a lot like an animal. His body language is affected by this as well, or the things he likes and which he fears. Of course, this influence is mainly caused by his deformation, making the "wolf" inside of him less bound to standards.

He’s independent and believes it is foolish to depend on others to take care of him or his needs. He’s strong-willed, never giving up on things he desires and is able to chase after them persistently without surrendering even when something doesn’t work out quite the way he wanted it. His ability to survive when he’s currently at the bottom is one to admire, he has very good sense of what’s right and what not. His observation skill is greatly developed as well as his empathy.

A lone wolf is a perfect word to describe him. He doesn’t like to be the center of attention and doesn’t like people who tend to be loud, crude and insensitive. But the most hated feature on another person is a manipulative behavior - he hates to lose control over himself, it’s his weak spot. He tends to lash out quite badly when someone tries to force him or manipulate him into something or to gain something. When this happens, he can very easily turn vicious - though normally he’s not a violent person, rather the opposite. He’s very gentle, kind to people he cares about and acts shy around strangers. He talks very rarely - except for his closest friends and dragons - which earned him during his time at Durmstrang a harsh nickname ‘Mute’.

Just as wolfs are rumored to be, Zeus is extremely loyal and caring when it comes to those he loves but he’s also very picky, doesn’t trust easily and is afraid of being judged and thrown away. The worst for him would possibly be to call him a monster - he’s terrified of it and rather backs away from others to prevent it from happening than risking being find out. That’s why people would usually see him alone.

He prefers solitude and his dragons over people but won’t decline a conversation when someone approaches him nicely. Though he wouldn’t admit it aloud, he likes someone’s company very much. Moreover, he’s a hopeless romantic at heart.

I am relatively new on MH, precisely few weeks (though passively it's already more than a month - took me a long time to create a character), but I have been role-playing for a few years by now on a different site. I'm applying for this feature with several reasons and desires.

Firstly, it would be a great opportunity to interact with new people and their characters. Creating an interesting story to make my character come alive. Of course for me as a writer it would be a challenge but it's also a great way to improve myself which I really want to! And I'd like to think about myself as a pretty realistic and logical person, able to see where the limits are which for me is very important.

Also, Werewolf in my opinion is quite tamed feature that usually doesn't tend to affect other characters like for example Siren could. I wouldn't even have enough courage to take a different type of ability on myself since I wouldn't be able to say for sure I can play for it. Moreover, I like it more when it tends to affect my own characters the most which is the main reason of me applying for this feature.

Zeus - originally Jimin - was the first character that entered my mind, when I joined this site. At that time he was just a raw idea in my head but after getting Eros sorted, when I started to focus a back on him, he started to feel more vivid each day. Though I quite drastically changed the roots of his special feature - starting from something like a half-werewolf to its current shape - Zeus' remained practically the same, developing only more in details. This application helped me a lot with getting to know him more too. In my opinion, this feature fits him perfectly, I simply can't imagine him not having it, it's like his Siamese twin. Without it he would have probably burnt down and turned to dust. And why did I made his curse deformed/mutated? It added more struggles, more suffering into his life. It can affect him even more. I love to make my characters suffer (Poor babies), it makes them more believable and enjoyable for me.

CLOSER LOOK AT HIS DEFORMATION:

HOW WAS IT CAUSED?

His own mother was the one who bit him. She had been a Werewolf for about five years at that time - infected during one of her missions as she was working at the Russian Ministry as a Beast Hunter.

She always drank a prepared Wolfsbane potion before her transformation, then locked herself in a cellar, while she made sure her son stayed in his room or went away with his father, if he was at home and not somewhere at work. She didn’t want to worry about anyone else’s safety.

This however, crumbled down after she took a wrongly mixed Wolfsbane potion. The potion itself then haven’t had the effects that it should have and his mother went completely mad and bloodthirsty since she had suppressed her wolf inside of her for so long. She managed to break into the room where her son was hiding and attacked him, leaving four deep bites on his body as well as some scratches. It was the boy’s father who stopped his wife from killing Zeus, when he came back home from a work trip and heard his son’s screams. Zeus was immediately taken to St. Mungo's.

Only, the boy fell in a weird and unknown condition. You see, the Wolfsbane potion happened to contain some leaves from this flower that weren't supposed to be there. Moreover, the leaves are known to be a dangerous venom - a slow killer to Werewolves - and were the reason of his mother's death, when she later succumbed to them. The roots are the only part from aconite (Wolfsbane) that are supposed to be used in this particular potion - helping a transformed Werewolf keep its own mind.

Anyway, these two substances unintentionally entered Zeus’ body through the mixture of his blood and his mother’s saliva. The curse then was in an instant fight with parts of this flower. The roots were dampening effect of the bite, holding back the forming curse, while the leaves attacked and poisoned his blood. His only luck was the fact he wasn't a cursed Werewolf at that time so the poisoning wasn't in his case lethal.

This war quickly transformed into some kind of illness or infection, which is unable to be healed by any medications since it was a sporadic issue. It put Zeus into critical state - later even into coma for a few weeks. The signs, signaling that something is wrong, appeared almost immediately after the attack. Pale skin, swollen veins that gained a deadly looking black color, very slow heartbeat, increased sweating and high body temperatures that switched with low ones. Zeus even underwent a heart attack upon arriving to St. Mungo's and remained under critical condition during his stay in hospital, watched over. There was a high possibility of death. Of course the healers tried to clean his body from the flower - somehow - but the cleaning process was so slow, hard and insanely painful for Zeus that in the end they didn't succeed. They simply had to wait and try to find a different possibility.

Luckily, Zeus somehow managed to endure this and the curse in the end won, his illness disappearing as suddenly as it started - to other's shock. Only, the presence of the Wolfsbane in his body prevented the curse from developing normally, pushing it back and in the end forcing it to change and deform, distorting the boundaries.

TRANSFORMATION PROCESS

Zeus' transformation didn’t change so drastically but the deformation still had its influence on it. Generally, the curse starts working - changing him - earlier than it’s usual. The process of shifting also slowed down a bit, became more painful and exhausting. Majorly, the impact is more negative rather than positive - harder on his body and mind. It can be separated into three stages.

1ST STAGE:

As the full moon approaches, Werewolves tend to act a bit differently and Zeus isn’t any exception. However, unlike others he’s starting to feel influence of the nearing transformation earlier than is common, as was already said. It’s already three or four days before, when his wolf becomes more lively. During this time Zeus starts to be a lot more aggressive and moody. He gets cravings for bloody meat, all of his senses becoming more sensitive and stronger, while he also acts even more like a wolf. He has the tendency to feel easily threatened by others and acts very obsessive around his things or people he loves.

When the time till full moon shortens even more - about two days before it, he usually locks himself up in his house or at least stops going into places where he could meet anyone. It’s because of the black veins that start to appear on his skin all over his body. On his back, a bit on his face, legs, arms, chest and neck. Some of them even start to swell a bit. His body becomes more sensitive and his temperature leaps even higher, his skin feeling feverish on touch.

His eyes start to flash between blue and amber without control and any regularity. Also, he can usually feel sharp pain in his mouth as his canines tend to sharpen and grow slowly.

2ND STAGE:

This part is probably the worst for Zeus, most painful. It usually comes on the day of the full moon - around morning. By this time his eyes stay mostly flashed into amber, his canines are fully grown and sharp. Black fur can sometimes sprout from his back, thick and black like darkness.

His body goes through some kind of cramps, pain spasms that has variously long breaks between each other. This pain is mainly caused by his body starting to shift prematurely. At first it doesn’t appear that significant but as the night approaches the pain rapidly increases. His bones move, trying to reshape itself into wolf form but somehow they’re not able to, not yet. Instead, they simply change their form - growing longer, cracking - and then slowly shrink back. The closer the moon the more intense it feels, while the bones remain shifted longer than before.

These moments are for Zeus definitely the worst. Not only that his body is completely swallowed by the pain, every inch blazing, on fire - but during this time he’s also absolutely powerless, writhing, sweaty and breathless. He’s completely blinded by the ache. And it’s not only terrifying for Zeus himself because seeing him in this state definitely wouldn’t be pleasant experience to majority of others. When one of his bones cracks or reshapes, the spot usually bends in quite disgusting manner, releasing a loud noise - so it looks a lot like his body is breaking in some places then coming back, whilst it reshapes in other spot. His skin remains decorated by the black veins the whole time.

3RD STAGE:

The final part is basically the transformation itself, which isn’t very different from that of a normal Werewolf. When the moon comes up, Zeus’ torture finally ends, his body shifting for the rest of the night, black fur growing from his skin - covering the black veins. Sprouting all over his body, unlike many others his coat thick and glossy. He’s visibly bigger than average - by a lot actually, which isn’t really something that surprising considering his height in human form.

What really differentiates him from the majority of Werewolves though is the fact he’s able to keep his own mind after he transforms. He’s still very dangerous and acts a lot like an animal, affected by the curse but he knows what he’s doing and if he tried really hard then he would probably be able to take control over his actions. Moreover, he usually remembers what he did during the full moon, though sometimes his memories tend to be fogged and unclear. Still, it’s definitely better than nothing, having completely blank space in his mind.

His transformation usually lasts till morning - at that point, when he switches back into his human body, he’s completely drenched in sweat, weak and exhausted, his muscles sore. Some of the black veins might remain visible this day after full moon night too, mostly on his arms or near his bite marks but he simply covers them with a spell so he doesn’t have to isolate himself from the world longer than it’s necessary. Four day are already long enough.

OTHER CHANGES - DUE TO THE DEFORMATION

With Zeus' deformed curse come also some changes in his human appearance and abilities. Zeus has permanently higher body temperature moving around forty degrees to forty-five, on touch his skin always feels nicely warm, sometimes even hot. He's more immune to cold too, wearing fewer clothes during winter than others and doesn't have to fear catching a cold. His resistance against illnesses and other bad influences around him is higher than it was. He's also less sensitive to pain, what others feel as painful he usually barely takes in which comes in handy if any of his baby dragons decides to bite him, have his fingers for lunch or make them its toys. When they accidentally scratch him with their claws these small wounds almost immediately heal due to his fast regeneration. Bigger wounds usually take few weeks to heal but the total time is much shorter. He also noticed that his body seems to be aging a bit slower, his face looks younger - rather fitting a twenty year old man not his current thirties.

His bones are sturdier, he has more strength and better reflexes. Also, his senses are sharper. Eyes are able to see better during the night, though only lines and some bigger details. He wore glasses before the attack, having a quite bad sight but it completely vanished after he was bitten. His hearing is also better than it was before as well as his nose is. His sense of smell is probably the sharpest. He’s very sensitive to everything around him and can easily recognize something or someone by their odor.

The worst thing for his nose is possibly the Wolfsbane to which he reacts much worse than other Werewolves. Just her scent can make him want to vomit, stinking very badly to his nose and if he somehow ate the roots or drank the Wolfsbane potion then his skin would turn bright red and very itchy - something similar to allergy, while the potion wouldn't probably have much of an effect on him but it could very likely make him shift partially or lose consciousness.

The flower's scent can also make him aggressive if he happens to stay for a while in its presence, fogging his mind and bringing the wolf out. If Zeus gets angry - either because of the flower or because someone makes him furious then there's a possibility that his eyes would flash into amber or canines sharpen since his wolf isn't that chained by the curse and can slightly show itself even during a normal day.

I believe that Zeus would try to keep the truth from the majority of people around him because he fears they would leave him - either from fear or disgust. (That's also partly why he doesn't tell anyone about the Dark Mark he has). He doesn't want to lose anyone. No way he would willingly tell them, they'll just have to find out by themselves. Somehow.

MARCUS WENTWORTH: Is Zeus' cousin. His mother was sister of Marcus' father and she later married into the Tolyniev family. Until Zeus moved to Britain, these two didn't know much about each other despite their existence. But when Zeus visited his uncle, he had the chance to finally meet him and they surprisingly get along quite well, sometimes meeting up from then on.

That's how later Marcus will happen to see Zeus' black veins, when they suddenly appear on his hand. He will become suspicious and observe him more, trying to figure things out. In the end he's gonna notice that he frequently disappears before the full moon - which will already give him a pretty clear idea of what's going on - and confronts him about it.

CHARLIE WEASLEY (GEORGIA'S WIP): These two met in Romania, where they both studied Dragons. Zeus was older, more skilled and experienced than Charlie (he also worked longer in the reserve) and kind of became something like his mentor, helped him find his way around. They became quite good friends.

Zeus was even one of the guys that picked up Hagrid's dragon named Norbert at the Hogwarts and made sure the creature got safely into Romania. Though later Zeus left the reserve and moved near London, they still remained in contact. Unfortunately shortly after that he was forced to join Voldemort, becoming one of the Death Eaters. So when Charlie, while he was visiting Romania again, offered him a spot in Order of The Phoenix, he declined and made up some lie to cover it up.

Sadly for Zeus, when he joined the Battle at the Hogwarts, Charlie happened to be there too - though he came a bit later - and saw him there, siding with the Dark side. They broke off after that, Charlie didn't want to hear any explanation, he was really furious. Now, after it all ended they will meet again (accidentally or not) and maybe work it out together. There's a high possibility of Charlie finding out about his Werewolf side too in the future.

PIKE: Is under the Werewolf curse too. Who could then better understand Zeus' situation than him? These two will definitely meet in the future, developing some kind of relationship, through the time.

TERRY KUTHE: Zeus will meet Terry when the boy answers to his advertisement, searching for some help - a Baby-dragon Day Care. It will become Terry's brigade, caring for the little fire-breathing lizards, spending a lot of time in Zeus' presence.

Sadly, a horrible accident will occur, when Terry one day happens to face his superior fully transformed and quite angry. Zeus attacks the poor boy and there is the possibility that he'll even infect him. If yes, then he'll deeply regret it and will blame himself for it. He will be determined then to watch over Terry and help him get through all of it. If not, there will be some consequences too - Zeus will be outed by Terry, who panics, to Ministry as a Werewolf.

JANE LENNON: Jane will be send from Ministry after Terry informs them about the attack - to investigate Zeus. She'll eventually discover the truth, though it won’t be easy, but instead of reporting him she will surprisingly help Zeus stay in closet and keep a low profile.

NOTE: All the following plots have been discussed with and approved by the appropriate drivers.

The first and last time Zeus tried to take the Wolfsbane potion, hoping it would ease his pain during transformation. Not that long after his first full moon. ~

The taste of Wolfsbane was overpowering. His tongue was burning the same way as if he just ate red chilli-pepper, but it was more bitter. More disgusting. He rubbed his mouth against his palm, trying to get rid of the horrible taste. Was it really good idea to take the Wolfsbane potion? He was starting to doubt that. His skin was feeling itchy, he had the urge to scratch it. Somehow ease the uncomfortable feeling which was increasing each second. His eyes were feeling feverish and his heart suddenly pushed against his chest - making his breath hitch.

He moved, headed for the bathroom door, and smashed them open which was followed by a loud crack. He ignored it and crossed the room, coming closer to a white sink on the opposite wall.

By this point jolts were running down his spine, his breathing completely out of control - his eyes were itching so much he just wanted to scratch them out but instead he griped edges of the sink, knuckles turning white, and looked into mirror that was hanging in the same height as his head. He watched with mouth open, trying to catch his breath, as the blue color from his irises was replaced with amber. Warm sky was swallowed by lava. Two mad eyes were now staring at him with burning hunger, pupils wide. They closed as Zeus felt pang of pain in his chest, his stomach turning around from the taste lingering on his tongue. He felt his throat tighten forcefully, a sour flavor entering his mouth as he bent down and vomited into the washbowl.

He could feel his body starting to tremble, while his neck was painfully dry now - after he emptied his stomach.

That’s when a sound of water hitting the bottom of bath made Zeus flinch in surprise. A loud growl escaped through his lips, nothing human-like, and his head snapped to the right which he immediately regretted. His head spun, eyes suddenly fogged. He was starting to feel weird. He stumbled backwards, arms trying to grab something to steady himself but he was failing. Instead, he fell down to his knees and blinked trying to clear his vision. He was staring down on his hands, frowning in frustration. This certainly wasn’t alright. He shouldn’t have drank that damned potion because this definitely wasn’t how was he supposed to feel.

Another growl escaped through his lips, he swung his arm and hit the wall next to him, anger boiling in his veins. The hand then trembled even more, suddenly weak and fragile - pain pulsing through his fingers. He tried to take a look at it but could only make out its shape and those bloody black veins that graced his body disgustingly like snakes. Like fingers of darkness.

He hated them. He hated the fact he was different. He hated the fact he was stupid enough to take the potion. He hated himself for lying to his friends. And he especially hated his mother.

When I joined MH a few months ago and started work on my first character, I had about a hundred different ideas for who I wanted to create. Over time, Éilís began to emerge: a sweet, loyal, and simple girl, who would rather spend her time working out in the garden than pretty much anything else. After finishing Éilís’ personality and history, I was exploring more of the site and came upon the elementalism guide for the first time. I was fascinated by the feature. When I reached the Madin section, I realized that I had been unintentionally creating a girl who embodied many of the earth elemental primary aspects.

I am applying for this feature now, several months later, because I still believe that it is right for Éilís. If this feature is approved, Éilís’ elementalism will not change who she is at the core. However, it will allow me the opportunity to develop her more fully, play her with a wider variety of characters and drivers, and provide an explanation for many of the things that make Éilís who she is.

Éilís already displays many of the characteristics of Madin elementals. She feels most at home when she can be with nature and has a love for and fascination with plantlife. She often feels trapped and claustrophobic when stuck inside for hours on end and will frequently escape to the Hogwarts grounds, in desperate need of time outdoors. Éilís’ first sign of magic had an elemental quality: reviving dying plants in her grandfather’s garden. She has always struggled with performing magic, preferring to study subjects that don’t require the use of a wand. Although she is a hard worker and dedicated student, she struggles to learn simple spells and is often left disappointed and frustrated when leaving class.

Her love of nature aside, the Madin elemental group fits extremely well with Éilís’ personality. Éilís is simple and modest, never wanting to draw attention to herself. She values honesty and kindness highly, and is a devoted friend. She loves to leave gifts and do favors for her friends and family to ensure that they feel loved and appreciated. Éilís is a hard-worker, determined to do her best even when she is afraid or struggling. She is curious and doesn’t mind putting in work, because she wants to know that she has done her best and followed through on her commitments.

If Éilís is approved for this feature, I do not plan to retcon any of her history. Over the next several months at Hogwarts, she will continue to struggle with her wandwork and grow increasingly frustrated with the poor results she is seeing, despite her dedicated studying and practice. It is reasonable to believe that she would not have been discovered before now, as there are currently no elemental professors at Hogwarts and no elementals in her year. In addition, she has spent most of her life until now in the muggle world, and still lives with her muggle family during the holidays. Once she gets to know two of the older elementals at Hogwarts, she will finally discover who she is. She will be conflicted for some time by the information: although it will be comforting to better understand herself and her magic, she will be frustrated that she is once again being thrown into a new group where she must earn acceptance and prove that she deserves to be there. It will be difficult for her at first at Inverness, where she will struggle to learn a new type of magic and find her place in the magical community.

The connections and plots described below have all been discussed with and approved by their respective drivers.

Linnet Willowsong: Since the Hufflepuffs have moved into Ravenclaw tower, Linnet has had the feeling that another Madin has been around. However, she has not been able to identify where the aura is coming from, since she usually only notices it in the common room. When Éilís comes upon Linnet tending her plants by the greenhouses, she will feel an immediate connection to Linnet. She will recognize that Linnet’s magic takes a similar form to hers, although she will not realize that what the two girls can do is special. Linnet, although unwilling to immediately reveal that she herself is a Madin, will suspect that Éilís is the other elemental she has been sensing in Ravenclaw tower. She will try to get closer to Éilís to confirm her suspicions, and the two girls will become quick friends despite their age difference. This will be particularly unusual for Éilís, as she usually feels quite nervous around strangers. She will be amazed at how comfortable she feels around the older girl. Unfortunately, before Linnet can reveal herself and explain what she believes to be true, she will be kidnapped by the rogue elementals who break into Hogwarts. Éilís will be distraught by Linnet’s disappearance. If Linnet is able to ever return to Hogwarts or Inverness, Éilís will be excited to have the older girl around and look up to her a great deal.

Audra Baxter: After Éilís overhears Audra discussing elementalism in Ravenclaw tower, she will observe her from a distance for some time, trying to understand the older girl’s magic. She will recognize similarities between Audra, Linnet, and herself and feel a similar connection to Audra as she did to Linnet, though it will not be as comfortable and earthy. Audra will eventually catch Éilís spying on her, and talk to the younger girl, who she will quickly suspect of being a fellow elemental. Audra will reveal herself to Éilís after witnessing her revive a dying plant by the greenhouses, explain what she believes about her, and notify the council of Éilís’ existence. This will eventually lead to the start of her training in elemental magic and a friendship between the two Ravenclaws, Audra looking out for her at Hogwarts and Inverness. Éilís will begin to spend much more time with her and the other elementals at school. This is a change that may seem odd to those on the outside but will bring Éilís a sense of calm and acceptance that she has not felt before.

Eir O’Gowan (WIP Castor): Since she was a child and learned that she was magical, Éilís has been cared for by Eir, her magical neighbor. With a mother who is unaware of her abilities and a father who has difficulty understanding, Éilís has usually turned to her caretaker for guidance and support. Eir will be the first person Éilís wants to talk to after she is told about elementalism. Eir will find it difficult to believe that elementalism exists or that Éilís should be focusing on something other than her studies at Hogwarts. All the same, Eir has always been there for her in the past and Éilís will count on Eir’s support and love as she struggles to master her element and find her place in the magical world.

Jacqueline MacClelland (WIP Olivia): As Éilís’ best friend, Jacq has been close to her, talked to her, and studied with her since Éilís arrived at Hogwarts. Because Jacq knows that Éilís has always struggled with the practical side of many of her classes, she will not be surprised at first when Éilís continues to learn slowly and perform poorly in her worst subjects, such as Defense Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration. However, once Éilís is discovered and begins to intentionally channel her elemental magic, she will begin to struggle with more basic charms, including ones that Jacq helped her to learn over the past few years at school. After the kidnapping at Hogwarts, many students will be more aware of elementalism than they would have been otherwise, and Jacq will eventually figure out that Éilís’ failing wandwork in combination with her past demonstrations of wandless magic add up to her having a unique ability. Once Jacq suspects the truth, she will approach Éilís about the subject and be let in on the secret. After, she will be a valuable resource for Éilís, helping her as she struggles in class, supporting her as best she can, and keeping her secret safe.

Sophie Scott: Her other closest friend, Sophie, will also eventually be let in on the secret. When Éilís’ magic, habits, and friends begin to change after her discovery, Sophie will notice the changes and repeatedly ask her about it. Éilís will withdraw from the friendship, not willing to lie to her friend but also unable to share with her the truth. Eventually, she will follow Éilís and witness her practicing conjuring earth. Although Sophie will be upset and confused that Éilís did not confide in her initially, the girls will be able to maintain their friendship once Sophie understands what is happening.

Nikodim Balaur: After her discovery, Éilís will begin studying the element of earth with Nikodim, her primary mentor. Although she will find the Incin intimidating at first, she will soon recognize that despite his frightening appearance, he is a gentle soul. Learning another new type of magic will be stressful for Éilís, and she will suffer more from issues of confidence than ability. Niko will be supportive and involved in her education, believing in her one hundred percent. Eventually, his kind and dedicated teaching will help her come out of her shell a bit. She will grow to love him and value both his guidance and his opinion highly.

Kyllikki Kirkkomäki: Because Éilís will be spending much of her time away from school living and learning in Inverness, she will get to meet other young elementals at the Council. Kylli, a fellow discipula only a year older than Éilís, will be thrilled to have another Madin around and eagerly befriend her. Although Éilís and Kylli will have a hard time communicating verbally until Éilís advances in Council Gaelic, the two girls will feel a special bond and spend a lot of time practicing together. During the school year, the girls will maintain correspondence, giving them an opportunity to report on their progress mastering the element of earth and to regularly use their Gaelic.

Zoé Deveaux: Once Éilís begins studying with the Council, she will be assigned Zoé as a mentor for learning Council Gaelic. The pair were matched due to Zoé’s new role as a Council Advocate and her request to be paired with a Madin in order to improve her ability to work with the counter element. Despite the slight discomfort they feel at first being around each other, Zoé and Éilís will find that they have a surprising amount in common, including their initial unease at Inverness and their shy but kind nature. Éilís will look up to Zoé a great deal, thinking her sweet, impressive, and impossibly cool.

Nolan Cairns: Being the curious and outdoors-oriented person that Éilís is, she will spend a lot of her time while in Inverness exploring the surrounding town. Nolan, though no longer spends time at the Council, still hangs about in Inverness, trying to keep close to the other elementals. He will seek Éilís out during one of her trips into town and offer her his assistance, taking advantage of how new she is to the council in the hope of manipulating her and turning her to his ideas about elemental superiority.

A light dusting of snow was falling from the sky and the bitter March wind was biting at her cheeks and nose, but Éilís Healey was lying out on the Hogwarts grounds at the edge of a patch of trees, her transfiguration book spread over her lap. Her bag was at her side, filled to the brim with coursebooks, parchment, and her journal. Despite the miserable weather, Éilís had needed to escape the crowded and noisy Ravenclaw common room so that she could focus on her transfiguration work. Although she had studied the theory for much of the previous weekend, she had made no progress whatsoever toward turning her teapot into a tortoise. Matters had only gotten worse when Professor Markham had walked by to check on her progress and absolutely nothing had happened at all when she’d pointed her wand and said the incantation. Not even some distorted version of the spell. She supposed it was just nerves getting to her, but if she wanted to pass her exams at the end of the term, she was definitely going to need some extra practice. The grounds seemed the perfect spot: she always felt comfortable out there, and the chances of someone noticing her shoddy spellwork outside on a day like this had been slim-to-none.

An hour later however, she was flat on her back, clearly not reading her book, her wand resting in her limp hand. The cup she had brought with her from lunch was still looking distinctly bowl-shaped, even after all the practice, but at least the color had shifted a bit. She supposed she should go inside; it was starting to get dark and even with her extra layers and winter wear, she was becoming uncomfortably cold. She turned her head to look out over the flat, white expanse, wishing that spring would hurry up and come. She missed being able to spend the whole day out on the grounds, missed tending the plants in the gardens behind the greenhouses, missed climbing the trees and sitting for hours, hidden up in the leaves.

As if the dormant plants below the ice had just been waiting for her to ask, a tiny green bud popped out from the thin layer of snow that had gathered on the ground beside her head. She smiled at it, and it began to reach upward, twisting toward the sky as she willed it to do so. She was holding her wand loosely at her side, clutching it more out of habit than necessity as the magic flowed. This was the sort of magic that came to her instinctively; being outdoors like this made her comfortable, made it easy for the things she was imagining to take form around her. The tiny green stem pushed its way through the snow, leaves pulling behind and then popping free as it grew taller. The head was bubbling out, expanding slowly until it suddenly opened and white petals burst out, a softer color than the bright snow that still surrounded the stem.

Magic like this reminded her of her childhood, when the way she interacted with the world had seemed innocent and natural. She hadn’t known then that what she was doing was anything special, hadn’t known that there was a world of magic out there, waiting to simultaneously cast her out and draw her in. It was magic from a time when she hadn’t been afraid to be who she was. These days, everything felt out of place.

She could never return fully to the muggle world -- not knowing what she did, not with the way her family had been forever changed -- but she knew she would never feel comfortable among the witches and wizards who could wave their wand and produce spectacular results. She would never be proud of her background, not when she was surrounded by other students who talked about the quidditch matches they’d been to as children or the important jobs their fathers held at the Ministry. No, it seemed Éilís would be forever stuck the witch in second-hand robes standing on the outskirts of the magical world, looking in as she worked ever harder to prove that she belonged, but knowing deep down that she had no power to erase the prejudices that the others would never admit they held.

She plucked the white blossom from its snowy bed, and twisted it back and forth delicately between her fingers. It frustrated her that it was this kind of useless spell, magic that was more instinctual than practical, that she was a natural at. She supposed she could have a career as a potioneer or herbologist eventually, the type of job where no one would be considering the quality of her transfiguration work, but it would be nice to not have to worry whenever she needed to do something as simple as unlock a door or repair a dropped bowl. With a sigh, she set the delicate flower back atop the snow and sat up, stuffing the book and cup into her bag. Perhaps someone would find it later, a pleasant surprise for the next student who was also just a little tired of winter.

When I joined MH a few months ago and started work on my first character, I had about a hundred different ideas for who I wanted to create. Over time, Éilís began to emerge: a sweet, loyal, and simple girl, who would rather spend her time working out in the garden than pretty much anything else. After finishing Éilís’ personality and history, I was exploring more of the site and came upon the elementalism guide for the first time. I was fascinated by the feature. When I reached the Madin section, I realized that I had been unintentionally creating a girl who embodied many of the earth elemental primary aspects.

I am applying for this feature now, several months later, because I still believe that it is right for Éilís. If this feature is approved, Éilís’ elementalism will not change who she is at the core. However, it will allow me the opportunity to develop her more fully, play her with a wider variety of characters and drivers, and provide an explanation for many of the things that make Éilís who she is.

Éilís already displays many of the characteristics of Madin elementals. She feels most at home when she can be with nature and has a love for and fascination with plantlife. She often feels trapped and claustrophobic when stuck inside for hours on end and will frequently escape to the Hogwarts grounds, in desperate need of time outdoors. Éilís’ first sign of magic had an elemental quality: reviving dying plants in her grandfather’s garden. She has always struggled with performing magic, preferring to study subjects that don’t require the use of a wand. Although she is a hard worker and dedicated student, she struggles to learn simple spells and is often left disappointed and frustrated when leaving class.

Her love of nature aside, the Madin elemental group fits extremely well with Éilís’ personality. Éilís is simple and modest, never wanting to draw attention to herself. She values honesty and kindness highly, and is a devoted friend. She loves to leave gifts and do favors for her friends and family to ensure that they feel loved and appreciated. Éilís is a hard-worker, determined to do her best even when she is afraid or struggling. She is curious and doesn’t mind putting in work, because she wants to know that she has done her best and followed through on her commitments.

If Éilís is approved for this feature, I do not plan to retcon any of her history. Over the next several months at Hogwarts, she will continue to struggle with her wandwork and grow increasingly frustrated with the poor results she is seeing, despite her dedicated studying and practice. It is reasonable to believe that she would not have been discovered before now, as there are currently no elemental professors at Hogwarts and no elementals in her year. In addition, she has spent most of her life until now in the muggle world, and still lives with her muggle family during the holidays. Once she gets to know two of the older elementals at Hogwarts, she will finally discover who she is. She will be conflicted for some time by the information: although it will be comforting to better understand herself and her magic, she will be frustrated that she is once again being thrown into a new group where she must earn acceptance and prove that she deserves to be there. It will be difficult for her at first at Inverness, where she will struggle to learn a new type of magic and find her place in the magical community.

The connections and plots described below have all been discussed with and approved by their respective drivers.

Linnet Willowsong: Since the Hufflepuffs have moved into Ravenclaw tower, Linnet has had the feeling that another Madin has been around. However, she has not been able to identify where the aura is coming from, since she usually only notices it in the common room. When Éilís comes upon Linnet tending her plants by the greenhouses, she will feel an immediate connection to Linnet. She will recognize that Linnet’s magic takes a similar form to hers, although she will not realize that what the two girls can do is special. Linnet, although unwilling to immediately reveal that she herself is a Madin, will suspect that Éilís is the other elemental she has been sensing in Ravenclaw tower. She will try to get closer to Éilís to confirm her suspicions, and the two girls will become quick friends despite their age difference. This will be particularly unusual for Éilís, as she usually feels quite nervous around strangers. She will be amazed at how comfortable she feels around the older girl. Unfortunately, before Linnet can reveal herself and explain what she believes to be true, she will be kidnapped by the rogue elementals who break into Hogwarts. Éilís will be distraught by Linnet’s disappearance. If Linnet is able to ever return to Hogwarts or Inverness, Éilís will be excited to have the older girl around and look up to her a great deal.

Audra Baxter: After Éilís overhears Audra discussing elementalism in Ravenclaw tower, she will observe her from a distance for some time, trying to understand the older girl’s magic. She will recognize similarities between Audra, Linnet, and herself and feel a similar connection to Audra as she did to Linnet, though it will not be as comfortable and earthy. Audra will eventually catch Éilís spying on her, and talk to the younger girl, who she will quickly suspect of being a fellow elemental. Audra will reveal herself to Éilís after witnessing her revive a dying plant by the greenhouses, explain what she believes about her, and notify the council of Éilís’ existence. This will eventually lead to the start of her training in elemental magic and a friendship between the two Ravenclaws, Audra looking out for her at Hogwarts and Inverness. Éilís will begin to spend much more time with her and the other elementals at school. This is a change that may seem odd to those on the outside but will bring Éilís a sense of calm and acceptance that she has not felt before.

Eir O’Gowan (WIP Castor): Since she was a child and learned that she was magical, Éilís has been cared for by Eir, her magical neighbor. With a mother who is unaware of her abilities and a father who has difficulty understanding, Éilís has usually turned to her caretaker for guidance and support. Eir will be the first person Éilís wants to talk to after she is told about elementalism. Eir will find it difficult to believe that elementalism exists or that Éilís should be focusing on something other than her studies at Hogwarts. All the same, Eir has always been there for her in the past and Éilís will count on Eir’s support and love as she struggles to master her element and find her place in the magical world.

Jacqueline MacClelland (WIP Olivia): As Éilís’ best friend, Jacq has been close to her, talked to her, and studied with her since Éilís arrived at Hogwarts. Because Jacq knows that Éilís has always struggled with the practical side of many of her classes, she will not be surprised at first when Éilís continues to learn slowly and perform poorly in her worst subjects, such as Defense Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration. However, once Éilís is discovered and begins to intentionally channel her elemental magic, she will begin to struggle with more basic charms, including ones that Jacq helped her to learn over the past few years at school. After the kidnapping at Hogwarts, many students will be more aware of elementalism than they would have been otherwise, and Jacq will eventually figure out that Éilís’ failing wandwork in combination with her past demonstrations of wandless magic add up to her having a unique ability. Once Jacq suspects the truth, she will approach Éilís about the subject and be let in on the secret. After, she will be a valuable resource for Éilís, helping her as she struggles in class, supporting her as best she can, and keeping her secret safe.

Sophie Scott: Her other closest friend, Sophie, will also eventually be let in on the secret. When Éilís’ magic, habits, and friends begin to change after her discovery, Sophie will notice the changes and repeatedly ask her about it. Éilís will withdraw from the friendship, not willing to lie to her friend but also unable to share with her the truth. Eventually, she will follow Éilís and witness her practicing conjuring earth. Although Sophie will be upset and confused that Éilís did not confide in her initially, the girls will be able to maintain their friendship once Sophie understands what is happening.

Nikodim Balaur: After her discovery, Éilís will begin studying the element of earth with Nikodim, her primary mentor. Although she will find the Incin intimidating at first, she will soon recognize that despite his frightening appearance, he is a gentle soul. Learning another new type of magic will be stressful for Éilís, and she will suffer more from issues of confidence than ability. Niko will be supportive and involved in her education, believing in her one hundred percent. Eventually, his kind and dedicated teaching will help her come out of her shell a bit. She will grow to love him and value both his guidance and his opinion highly.

Kyllikki Kirkkomäki: Because Éilís will be spending much of her time away from school living and learning in Inverness, she will get to meet other young elementals at the Council. Kylli, a fellow discipula only a year older than Éilís, will be thrilled to have another Madin around and eagerly befriend her. Although Éilís and Kylli will have a hard time communicating verbally until Éilís advances in Council Gaelic, the two girls will feel a special bond and spend a lot of time practicing together. During the school year, the girls will maintain correspondence, giving them an opportunity to report on their progress mastering the element of earth and to regularly use their Gaelic.

Zoé Deveaux: Once Éilís begins studying with the Council, she will be assigned Zoé as a mentor for learning Council Gaelic. The pair were matched due to Zoé’s new role as a Council Advocate and her request to be paired with a Madin in order to improve her ability to work with the counter element. Despite the slight discomfort they feel at first being around each other, Zoé and Éilís will find that they have a surprising amount in common, including their initial unease at Inverness and their shy but kind nature. Éilís will look up to Zoé a great deal, thinking her sweet, impressive, and impossibly cool.

Nolan Cairns: Being the curious and outdoors-oriented person that Éilís is, she will spend a lot of her time while in Inverness exploring the surrounding town. Nolan, though no longer spends time at the Council, still hangs about in Inverness, trying to keep close to the other elementals. He will seek Éilís out during one of her trips into town and offer her his assistance, taking advantage of how new she is to the council in the hope of manipulating her and turning her to his ideas about elemental superiority.

A light dusting of snow was falling from the sky and the bitter March wind was biting at her cheeks and nose, but Éilís Healey was lying out on the Hogwarts grounds at the edge of a patch of trees, her transfiguration book spread over her lap. Her bag was at her side, filled to the brim with coursebooks, parchment, and her journal. Despite the miserable weather, Éilís had needed to escape the crowded and noisy Ravenclaw common room so that she could focus on her transfiguration work. Although she had studied the theory for much of the previous weekend, she had made no progress whatsoever toward turning her teapot into a tortoise. Matters had only gotten worse when Professor Markham had walked by to check on her progress and absolutely nothing had happened at all when she’d pointed her wand and said the incantation. Not even some distorted version of the spell. She supposed it was just nerves getting to her, but if she wanted to pass her exams at the end of the term, she was definitely going to need some extra practice. The grounds seemed the perfect spot: she always felt comfortable out there, and the chances of someone noticing her shoddy spellwork outside on a day like this had been slim-to-none.

An hour later however, she was flat on her back, clearly not reading her book, her wand resting in her limp hand. The cup she had brought with her from lunch was still looking distinctly bowl-shaped, even after all the practice, but at least the color had shifted a bit. She supposed she should go inside; it was starting to get dark and even with her extra layers and winter wear, she was becoming uncomfortably cold. She turned her head to look out over the flat, white expanse, wishing that spring would hurry up and come. She missed being able to spend the whole day out on the grounds, missed tending the plants in the gardens behind the greenhouses, missed climbing the trees and sitting for hours, hidden up in the leaves.

As if the dormant plants below the ice had just been waiting for her to ask, a tiny green bud popped out from the thin layer of snow that had gathered on the ground beside her head. She smiled at it, and it began to reach upward, twisting toward the sky as she willed it to do so. She was holding her wand loosely at her side, clutching it more out of habit than necessity as the magic flowed. This was the sort of magic that came to her instinctively; being outdoors like this made her comfortable, made it easy for the things she was imagining to take form around her. The tiny green stem pushed its way through the snow, leaves pulling behind and then popping free as it grew taller. The head was bubbling out, expanding slowly until it suddenly opened and white petals burst out, a softer color than the bright snow that still surrounded the stem.

Magic like this reminded her of her childhood, when the way she interacted with the world had seemed innocent and natural. She hadn’t known then that what she was doing was anything special, hadn’t known that there was a world of magic out there, waiting to simultaneously cast her out and draw her in. It was magic from a time when she hadn’t been afraid to be who she was. These days, everything felt out of place.

She could never return fully to the muggle world -- not knowing what she did, not with the way her family had been forever changed -- but she knew she would never feel comfortable among the witches and wizards who could wave their wand and produce spectacular results. She would never be proud of her background, not when she was surrounded by other students who talked about the quidditch matches they’d been to as children or the important jobs their fathers held at the Ministry. No, it seemed Éilís would be forever stuck the witch in second-hand robes standing on the outskirts of the magical world, looking in as she worked ever harder to prove that she belonged, but knowing deep down that she had no power to erase the prejudices that the others would never admit they held.

She plucked the white blossom from its snowy bed, and twisted it back and forth delicately between her fingers. It frustrated her that it was this kind of useless spell, magic that was more instinctual than practical, that she was a natural at. She supposed she could have a career as a potioneer or herbologist eventually, the type of job where no one would be considering the quality of her transfiguration work, but it would be nice to not have to worry whenever she needed to do something as simple as unlock a door or repair a dropped bowl. With a sigh, she set the delicate flower back atop the snow and sat up, stuffing the book and cup into her bag. Perhaps someone would find it later, a pleasant surprise for the next student who was also just a little tired of winter.

Zeus is very affected by the wolfish-part inside of him. He bears a big part of its traits that reflect in his personality and daily behavior. Some of his habits can reflect this part of him too. For example, when he feels threatened or angry he tends to growl, sounding a lot like an animal. His body language is affected by this as well, or the things he likes and which he fears. Of course, this influence is mainly caused by his deformation, making the "wolf" inside of him less bound to standards.

He’s independent and believes it is foolish to depend on others to take care of him or his needs. He’s strong-willed, never giving up on things he desires and is able to chase after them persistently without surrendering even when something doesn’t work out quite the way he wanted it. His ability to survive when he’s currently at the bottom is one to admire, he has very good sense of what’s right and what not. His observation skill is greatly developed as well as his empathy.

A lone wolf is a perfect word to describe him. He doesn’t like to be the center of attention and doesn’t like people who tend to be loud, crude and insensitive. But the most hated feature on another person is a manipulative behavior - he hates to lose control over himself, it’s his weak spot. He tends to lash out quite badly when someone tries to force him or manipulate him into something or to gain something. When this happens, he can very easily turn vicious - though normally he’s not a violent person, rather the opposite. He’s very gentle, kind to people he cares about and acts shy around strangers. He talks very rarely - except for his closest friends and dragons - which earned him during his time at Durmstrang a harsh nickname ‘Mute’.

Just as wolfs are rumored to be, Zeus is extremely loyal and caring when it comes to those he loves but he’s also very picky, doesn’t trust easily and is afraid of being judged and thrown away. The worst for him would possibly be to call him a monster - he’s terrified of it and rather backs away from others to prevent it from happening than risking being find out. That’s why people would usually see him alone.

He prefers solitude and his dragons over people but won’t decline a conversation when someone approaches him nicely. Though he wouldn’t admit it aloud, he likes someone’s company very much. Moreover, he’s a hopeless romantic at heart.

I am relatively new on MH, precisely few weeks (though passively it's already more than a month - took me a long time to create a character), but I have been role-playing for a few years by now on a different site. I'm applying for this feature with several reasons and desires.

Firstly, it would be a great opportunity to interact with new people and their characters. Creating an interesting story to make my character come alive. Of course for me as a writer it would be a challenge but it's also a great way to improve myself which I really want to! And I'd like to think about myself as a pretty realistic and logical person, able to see where the limits are which for me is very important.

Also, Werewolf in my opinion is quite tamed feature that usually doesn't tend to affect other characters like for example Siren could. I wouldn't even have enough courage to take a different type of ability on myself since I wouldn't be able to say for sure I can play for it. Moreover, I like it more when it tends to affect my own characters the most which is the main reason of me applying for this feature.

Zeus - originally Jimin - was the first character that entered my mind, when I joined this site. At that time he was just a raw idea in my head but after getting Eros sorted, when I started to focus a back on him, he started to feel more vivid each day. Though I quite drastically changed the roots of his special feature - starting from something like a half-werewolf to its current shape - Zeus' remained practically the same, developing only more in details. This application helped me a lot with getting to know him more too. In my opinion, this feature fits him perfectly, I simply can't imagine him not having it, it's like his Siamese twin. Without it he would have probably burnt down and turned to dust. And why did I made his curse deformed/mutated? It added more struggles, more suffering into his life. It can affect him even more. I love to make my characters suffer (Poor babies), it makes them more believable and enjoyable for me.

CLOSER LOOK AT HIS DEFORMATION:

HOW WAS IT CAUSED?

His own mother was the one who bit him. She had been a Werewolf for about five years at that time - infected during one of her missions as she was working at the Russian Ministry as a Beast Hunter.

She always drank a prepared Wolfsbane potion before her transformation, then locked herself in a cellar, while she made sure her son stayed in his room or went away with his father, if he was at home and not somewhere at work. She didn’t want to worry about anyone else’s safety.

This however, crumbled down after she took a wrongly mixed Wolfsbane potion. The potion itself then haven’t had the effects that it should have and his mother went completely mad and bloodthirsty since she had suppressed her wolf inside of her for so long. She managed to break into the room where her son was hiding and attacked him, leaving four deep bites on his body as well as some scratches. It was the boy’s father who stopped his wife from killing Zeus, when he came back home from a work trip and heard his son’s screams. Zeus was immediately taken to St. Mungo's.

Only, the boy fell in a weird and unknown condition. You see, the Wolfsbane potion happened to contain some leaves from this flower that weren't supposed to be there. Moreover, the leaves are known to be a dangerous venom - a slow killer to Werewolves - and were the reason of his mother's death, when she later succumbed to them. The roots are the only part from aconite (Wolfsbane) that are supposed to be used in this particular potion - helping a transformed Werewolf keep its own mind.

Anyway, these two substances unintentionally entered Zeus’ body through the mixture of his blood and his mother’s saliva. The curse then was in an instant fight with parts of this flower. The roots were dampening effect of the bite, holding back the forming curse, while the leaves attacked and poisoned his blood. His only luck was the fact he wasn't a cursed Werewolf at that time so the poisoning wasn't in his case lethal.

This war quickly transformed into some kind of illness or infection, which is unable to be healed by any medications since it was a sporadic issue. It put Zeus into critical state - later even into coma for a few weeks. The signs, signaling that something is wrong, appeared almost immediately after the attack. Pale skin, swollen veins that gained a deadly looking black color, very slow heartbeat, increased sweating and high body temperatures that switched with low ones. Zeus even underwent a heart attack upon arriving to St. Mungo's and remained under critical condition during his stay in hospital, watched over. There was a high possibility of death. Of course the healers tried to clean his body from the flower - somehow - but the cleaning process was so slow, hard and insanely painful for Zeus that in the end they didn't succeed. They simply had to wait and try to find a different possibility.

Luckily, Zeus somehow managed to endure this and the curse in the end won, his illness disappearing as suddenly as it started - to other's shock. Only, the presence of the Wolfsbane in his body prevented the curse from developing normally, pushing it back and in the end forcing it to change and deform, distorting the boundaries.

TRANSFORMATION PROCESS

Zeus' transformation didn’t change so drastically but the deformation still had its influence on it. Generally, the curse starts working - changing him - earlier than it’s usual. The process of shifting also slowed down a bit, became more painful and exhausting. Majorly, the impact is more negative rather than positive - harder on his body and mind. It can be separated into three stages.

1ST STAGE:

As the full moon approaches, Werewolves tend to act a bit differently and Zeus isn’t any exception. However, unlike others he’s starting to feel influence of the nearing transformation earlier than is common, as was already said. It’s already three or four days before, when his wolf becomes more lively. During this time Zeus starts to be a lot more aggressive and moody. He gets cravings for bloody meat, all of his senses becoming more sensitive and stronger, while he also acts even more like a wolf. He has the tendency to feel easily threatened by others and acts very obsessive around his things or people he loves.

When the time till full moon shortens even more - about two days before it, he usually locks himself up in his house or at least stops going into places where he could meet anyone. It’s because of the black veins that start to appear on his skin all over his body. On his back, a bit on his face, legs, arms, chest and neck. Some of them even start to swell a bit. His body becomes more sensitive and his temperature leaps even higher, his skin feeling feverish on touch.

His eyes start to flash between blue and amber without control and any regularity. Also, he can usually feel sharp pain in his mouth as his canines tend to sharpen and grow slowly.

2ND STAGE:

This part is probably the worst for Zeus, most painful. It usually comes on the day of the full moon - around morning. By this time his eyes stay mostly flashed into amber, his canines are fully grown and sharp. Black fur can sometimes sprout from his back, thick and black like darkness.

His body goes through some kind of cramps, pain spasms that has variously long breaks between each other. This pain is mainly caused by his body starting to shift prematurely. At first it doesn’t appear that significant but as the night approaches the pain rapidly increases. His bones move, trying to reshape itself into wolf form but somehow they’re not able to, not yet. Instead, they simply change their form - growing longer, cracking - and then slowly shrink back. The closer the moon the more intense it feels, while the bones remain shifted longer than before.

These moments are for Zeus definitely the worst. Not only that his body is completely swallowed by the pain, every inch blazing, on fire - but during this time he’s also absolutely powerless, writhing, sweaty and breathless. He’s completely blinded by the ache. And it’s not only terrifying for Zeus himself because seeing him in this state definitely wouldn’t be pleasant experience to majority of others. When one of his bones cracks or reshapes, the spot usually bends in quite disgusting manner, releasing a loud noise - so it looks a lot like his body is breaking in some places then coming back, whilst it reshapes in other spot. His skin remains decorated by the black veins the whole time.

3RD STAGE:

The final part is basically the transformation itself, which isn’t very different from that of a normal Werewolf. When the moon comes up, Zeus’ torture finally ends, his body shifting for the rest of the night, black fur growing from his skin - covering the black veins. Sprouting all over his body, unlike many others his coat thick and glossy. He’s visibly bigger than average - by a lot actually, which isn’t really something that surprising considering his height in human form.

What really differentiates him from the majority of Werewolves though is the fact he’s able to keep his own mind after he transforms. He’s still very dangerous and acts a lot like an animal, affected by the curse but he knows what he’s doing and if he tried really hard then he would probably be able to take control over his actions. Moreover, he usually remembers what he did during the full moon, though sometimes his memories tend to be fogged and unclear. Still, it’s definitely better than nothing, having completely blank space in his mind.

His transformation usually lasts till morning - at that point, when he switches back into his human body, he’s completely drenched in sweat, weak and exhausted, his muscles sore. Some of the black veins might remain visible this day after full moon night too, mostly on his arms or near his bite marks but he simply covers them with a spell so he doesn’t have to isolate himself from the world longer than it’s necessary. Four day are already long enough.

OTHER CHANGES - DUE TO THE DEFORMATION

With Zeus' deformed curse come also some changes in his human appearance and abilities. Zeus has permanently higher body temperature moving around forty degrees to forty-five, on touch his skin always feels nicely warm, sometimes even hot. He's more immune to cold too, wearing fewer clothes during winter than others and doesn't have to fear catching a cold. His resistance against illnesses and other bad influences around him is higher than it was. He's also less sensitive to pain, what others feel as painful he usually barely takes in which comes in handy if any of his baby dragons decides to bite him, have his fingers for lunch or make them its toys. When they accidentally scratch him with their claws these small wounds almost immediately heal due to his fast regeneration. Bigger wounds usually take few weeks to heal but the total time is much shorter. He also noticed that his body seems to be aging a bit slower, his face looks younger - rather fitting a twenty year old man not his current thirties.

His bones are sturdier, he has more strength and better reflexes. Also, his senses are sharper. Eyes are able to see better during the night, though only lines and some bigger details. He wore glasses before the attack, having a quite bad sight but it completely vanished after he was bitten. His hearing is also better than it was before as well as his nose is. His sense of smell is probably the sharpest. He’s very sensitive to everything around him and can easily recognize something or someone by their odor.

The worst thing for his nose is possibly the Wolfsbane to which he reacts much worse than other Werewolves. Just her scent can make him want to vomit, stinking very badly to his nose and if he somehow ate the roots or drank the Wolfsbane potion then his skin would turn bright red and very itchy - something similar to allergy, while the potion wouldn't probably have much of an effect on him but it could very likely make him shift partially or lose consciousness.

The flower's scent can also make him aggressive if he happens to stay for a while in its presence, fogging his mind and bringing the wolf out. If Zeus gets angry - either because of the flower or because someone makes him furious then there's a possibility that his eyes would flash into amber or canines sharpen since his wolf isn't that chained by the curse and can slightly show itself even during a normal day.

I believe that Zeus would try to keep the truth from the majority of people around him because he fears they would leave him - either from fear or disgust. (That's also partly why he doesn't tell anyone about the Dark Mark he has). He doesn't want to lose anyone. No way he would willingly tell them, they'll just have to find out by themselves. Somehow.

MARCUS WENTWORTH: Is Zeus' cousin. His mother was sister of Marcus' father and she later married into the Tolyniev family. Until Zeus moved to Britain, these two didn't know much about each other despite their existence. But when Zeus visited his uncle, he had the chance to finally meet him and they surprisingly get along quite well, sometimes meeting up from then on.

That's how later Marcus will happen to see Zeus' black veins, when they suddenly appear on his hand. He will become suspicious and observe him more, trying to figure things out. In the end he's gonna notice that he frequently disappears before the full moon - which will already give him a pretty clear idea of what's going on - and confronts him about it.

CHARLIE WEASLEY (GEORGIA'S WIP): These two met in Romania, where they both studied Dragons. Zeus was older, more skilled and experienced than Charlie (he also worked longer in the reserve) and kind of became something like his mentor, helped him find his way around. They became quite good friends.

Zeus was even one of the guys that picked up Hagrid's dragon named Norbert at the Hogwarts and made sure the creature got safely into Romania. Though later Zeus left the reserve and moved near London, they still remained in contact. Unfortunately shortly after that he was forced to join Voldemort, becoming one of the Death Eaters. So when Charlie, while he was visiting Romania again, offered him a spot in Order of The Phoenix, he declined and made up some lie to cover it up.

Sadly for Zeus, when he joined the Battle at the Hogwarts, Charlie happened to be there too - though he came a bit later - and saw him there, siding with the Dark side. They broke off after that, Charlie didn't want to hear any explanation, he was really furious. Now, after it all ended they will meet again (accidentally or not) and maybe work it out together. There's a high possibility of Charlie finding out about his Werewolf side too in the future.

PIKE: Is under the Werewolf curse too. Who could then better understand Zeus' situation than him? These two will definitely meet in the future, developing some kind of relationship, through the time.

TERRY KUTHE: Zeus will meet Terry when the boy answers to his advertisement, searching for some help - a Baby-dragon Day Care. It will become Terry's brigade, caring for the little fire-breathing lizards, spending a lot of time in Zeus' presence.

Sadly, a horrible accident will occur, when Terry one day happens to face his superior fully transformed and quite angry. Zeus attacks the poor boy and there is the possibility that he'll even infect him. If yes, then he'll deeply regret it and will blame himself for it. He will be determined then to watch over Terry and help him get through all of it. If not, there will be some consequences too - Zeus will be outed by Terry, who panics, to Ministry as a Werewolf.

JANE LENNON: Jane will be send from Ministry after Terry informs them about the attack - to investigate Zeus. She'll eventually discover the truth, though it won’t be easy, but instead of reporting him she will surprisingly help Zeus stay in closet and keep a low profile.

NOTE: All the following plots have been discussed with and approved by the appropriate drivers.

The first and last time Zeus tried to take the Wolfsbane potion, hoping it would ease his pain during transformation. Not that long after his first full moon. ~

The taste of Wolfsbane was overpowering. His tongue was burning the same way as if he just ate red chilli-pepper, but it was more bitter. More disgusting. He rubbed his mouth against his palm, trying to get rid of the horrible taste. Was it really good idea to take the Wolfsbane potion? He was starting to doubt that. His skin was feeling itchy, he had the urge to scratch it. Somehow ease the uncomfortable feeling which was increasing each second. His eyes were feeling feverish and his heart suddenly pushed against his chest - making his breath hitch.

He moved, headed for the bathroom door, and smashed them open which was followed by a loud crack. He ignored it and crossed the room, coming closer to a white sink on the opposite wall.

By this point jolts were running down his spine, his breathing completely out of control - his eyes were itching so much he just wanted to scratch them out but instead he griped edges of the sink, knuckles turning white, and looked into mirror that was hanging in the same height as his head. He watched with mouth open, trying to catch his breath, as the blue color from his irises was replaced with amber. Warm sky was swallowed by lava. Two mad eyes were now staring at him with burning hunger, pupils wide. They closed as Zeus felt pang of pain in his chest, his stomach turning around from the taste lingering on his tongue. He felt his throat tighten forcefully, a sour flavor entering his mouth as he bent down and vomited into the washbowl.

He could feel his body starting to tremble, while his neck was painfully dry now - after he emptied his stomach.

That’s when a sound of water hitting the bottom of bath made Zeus flinch in surprise. A loud growl escaped through his lips, nothing human-like, and his head snapped to the right which he immediately regretted. His head spun, eyes suddenly fogged. He was starting to feel weird. He stumbled backwards, arms trying to grab something to steady himself but he was failing. Instead, he fell down to his knees and blinked trying to clear his vision. He was staring down on his hands, frowning in frustration. This certainly wasn’t alright. He shouldn’t have drank that damned potion because this definitely wasn’t how was he supposed to feel.

Another growl escaped through his lips, he swung his arm and hit the wall next to him, anger boiling in his veins. The hand then trembled even more, suddenly weak and fragile - pain pulsing through his fingers. He tried to take a look at it but could only make out its shape and those bloody black veins that graced his body disgustingly like snakes. Like fingers of darkness.

He hated them. He hated the fact he was different. He hated the fact he was stupid enough to take the potion. He hated himself for lying to his friends. And he especially hated his mother.

Clio is a sensitive woman. From a young age, she has always felt different and excluded. She's always had problems getting close to people, despite the intense desire to make friends and be accepted. She's selfless. She's also other worldly. The way she acts almost makes her seem..strange. Clio is a traditional woman with traditional morals and an old fashioned sense of what should be accepted. She just doesn't seem to "fit" into this world. She's an old soul. A believer in past lives and reincarnation, I think this'd be a fun idea to explore. Despite the pain she suffers, touch is one of her loves. She likes to feel wanted and she'd been too used to being thrown aside.

Clio is a humanitarian at heart. She's a deep, complex character. She's a dreamer but she's also a doer. She had big dreams but also plans to back them up. She can sometimes be mistaken for an extrovert, just because she's so interested in people. She loves to talk and even more so to listen. Next to touch, talking is one of the most intimate things a person can so according to her. She's actually very introverted. Not a lot of people know about her "fault" as she calls it. She loves the idea of love but she's sort of given up on the idea that it might happen to her. She's learning but she's not quite strong enough to bare her soul, after years of people thinking she's a little strange, she's started to believe this, too.

Clio is very empathetic, also. She's very self-expressive. She's articulate and kind and she has a strong sort of ethereal charisma. Clio dresses in vintage styles. Anything from long and draped twenties dresses with fringing to the cute French Riviera style of the fifties with capri trousers and headscarves. She invites people closer as she doesn't want to feel lonely any more. Her chosen profession is one that she can do alone, partly because she's comfortable with it but mostly because she's scared of failure. Being an astronomer offers Clio the perfect balance of freedom and learning.

Her gift has changed her. She's now more comfortable, well, as comfortable as she could get. It's made her cautious. She knows she's rather unusual. She has a hard time making friends. She usually wears gloves, too. She favours lace gloves in summer which have been charmed. The material is thin and beautiful but has the same sort of strength has dragon hide to keep her from accidentally touching someone.

She's almost like a lone wolf on occasion. She can suffer bouts of rather heavy deja vu. The phrase, "old soul" is used a lot but it does seem to describe her. Clio spends a lot of time by herself and as such, she has a lot of time to think. She often wonders about the world and takes joy in realising just how small and insignificant she really is in the grand scheme of things. She's wise beyond her years, completely. She's world weary and perhaps a little jaded but she's not quite ready to throw in the towel just yet.

Clio's parents knew something wasn't quite right as soon as she was born.

Clio refused to breastfeed, leaving her mother confused and stressed. She let out an almighty fuss whenever she was touched, whether it be to be cuddled or changed. These weren't the usual cries of a newborn baby; these were shrieks of pain. They were so loud, Healers often came running into the room but upon checking her over thoroughly, there wasn't anything physically the matter with her.

As she grew, she behaved much the same way. Children were rough, as children were. They often tested one another's boundaries and after one play flight with the neighbour's children when she was about four years old, Clio started crying again, even if the touch was feather light. This always happened and after a while, her friends didn't call around so much. As a result, Clio became more and more withdrawn. With her worried parents, they forced her into playgroups which always ended in tears. As Clio grew, she wasn't able to communicate her feelings and as a result, she became increasingly frustrated. Eventually, she turned violent and she couldn't stop it. She hadn't meant to hurt anyone or to strike out. The pain was so intense at times, she even screamed at her mother when she was very delicately brushing her hair.

When she started Beauxbatons, things didn't get any better. Hitting puberty was a turning point. Clio had to deal with the usual mess of emotions that teenage years brought. She felt lost and lonely and she was upset and not sure what she was doing wrong. She shied away from potential boyfriends, the fear of intimacy seemingly sewn into her very being. Everyone called her a freak and eventually, she believed it.

Things came to a head one summer's afternoon when she was thirteen years old. It was Friday and classes were ending for the weekend. Clio had asked to leave early, claiming she was ill but really, she just wanted to avoid the inevitable crush of students spilling out into the hallways. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. She was caught in the swell of humans. The jostling felt like a thousand tiny daggers slicing her skin. She felt hot, like she was suffocating. The emotions around her were tangled and affecting her. Being touched by so many people at once short circuited her system and the result was her collapsing to the floor with a cry of pain.

Clio found herself waking up, surrounded by her teachers. They knew something she didn't. A Consensimens, they said. In and out of consciousness, she'd heard that word tossed around often. They'd had letters from her parents and they'd been watching her. Upon hearing the explanation, things seemed to slot into place. It all made sense to her now.

The following day, a man from the French Ministry of Magic showed up. He was called Pascale Duvall. He was a kind and friendly man. He sat a respectful distance from her and offered her a pair of delicate pale pastel gloves. They'd been enchanted, he said. They would offer Clio a barrier between her skin and anything she touched.

He gave her textbooks and notes and stayed with her, helping her understand and he began to train her. They began slow but it was painful and arduous and it often left Clio exhausted and emotionally drained but it was okay. She knew what was wrong with her and so, she could try and fix it. Pascale was a friend now and she learned various spells, charms and things to help her do simple things, just like shaking hands. Even with her gloves, it didn't stop the feeling. The touch of his hands often caused her to faint or fly into a defensive rage, leaving her shaking and crying. She felt as though Pascale couldn't understand. Though patient and sympathetic, he couldn't feel what she could feel.

In her latter teenage years, she could do the basics thanks to Pascale and his tireless advice. Clio, when she hit nineteen, could shake hands and allow a person to stroke her hair. It seemed like a small thing but really, it took all of her energy as she had to retrain her brain to let people in. The feelings were still unpleasant but now tolerable. It felt like a nettle sting; a sharp pain and then general discomfort. Like a toothache. She gradually learned to block out the touch as best she could, projecting, using everything she learned from Pascale. He'd come up with various methods of coping. Everything from meditation to deep breathing and everything in between.

In her mid-twenties, Clio could eventually untangle and make sense of what she was feeling from other people. She could differentiate bad from good, pleasure from pain. In her late-twenties, Clio forced herself out of her comfort zone. She needed to touch more people in order to be able to tolerate it. She started in bars, with "accidental" touches on people as they ordered drinks. She had good days where the pain was more of a tingle and terrible days, where the sensation felt like she'd placed her hands on a hot stove. It seemed to depend on who the person she touched was like. It was like Clio was able to discern what a person was like just from a brief touch. Clio has learned to trust her gut as it was very rarely wrong.

Entering her thirties, she's relaxed a little bit. Clio is now so lonely and there's a big hole in her heart. This "gift" has stopped her from experiencing love and she's been trying so hard to overcome the barriers that she's put up.

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When I originally thought of Clio, I was thinking of maybe making her a Seer. On further thought, I decided it wouldn't really fit. Clio thinks this "gift" is more of a curse and it's affected her personality in such a strong way. She's afraid and she's withdrawn. I really like the idea of Clio pushing herself forward. I love character development!

Clio is a big believer in the idea of past lives and reincarnation. She's a very spiritual woman and I think the best fit for her would be take this path. I like the idea of her trying to better herself. I also like the idea of Clio having "snippets" of insight of a person, just by touching them. I feel that this is much more how she'd operate and I hope this isn't crossing the line into being some sort of seer but I do feel as though the two can overlap at times. I feel as this is how she navigates the world. She has trust issues and touching someone, even for a second, would be how she chooses who and who not to trust.

I think this is a really fun feature because a character is born with it. They don't need to have a set of traits in order to fit in with the ideals set out. It's a rare feature (and a badass, underutilized one) and I'd love to give it a whirl. I think it's exciting and mysterious. The feature seems to touch on The Sight. The two can overlap and I'd really like for her to be able to have some sort of straddling middle ground. This feature is extra fun because it's like taking the best parts of two features and mashing them together to make something amazing. Rather than seeing a person's future, Clio gets a glimpse right into their soul which I think it amazingly cool.

It's exciting. It really does define her character. I've never played a character with such an affliction. I've never played a character where he or she is limited in such a way. There's so much scope for amazing threads and character development. It's something completely new to me and I'd be thrilled and honoured if you'd let me try :]

Vannah and I have something worked out with @Izajasz "Whisper" Szymański. Both Clio and Whisper met when they were teenagers in Monaco. It was a summer fling but Clio was rather taken with him. They hung out a lot by the harbours and she grew close to him. One day, Whisper asked to try and read her mind. She laughed, thinking he was a bit silly but she let him. The trial ended up as a mistake. Whisper hadn't quite garnered full control of his ability and as a result, implanted one of his memories into Clio's mind. It made her feel sick and suddenly, his touch burned her. It seared her, hotter and darker and more frightening than anything she'd ever experienced before.

Clio left suddenly and didn't return. Ever since, her skills have been more pronounced. She sometimes feels phantom pain or tingles with a weird sensation that's all to do with Whisper. If he's hurt or if he's uncomfortable, she gets a fleeting sensation in her palms. We plan to have Clio and Whisper "linked" in some way, possibly by a shared memory. They're going to bump into one another again as adults and Whisper is going to want to either exploit or learn more about Clio's gift. He wanted to have a tinker with her mind and try and see how she gained her skill. The result will make Clio realise that they're connected more deeply than she's aware.

Vannah's also been very kind to let me make plans with @Arden Dasher. Arden and Clio are similar but not the same. They share certain traits but they also know exactly how it feels to suffer from pain and confusion. I have it down that they both have a certain affinity. They've been through a lot and they take comfort in one another, knowing that they won't judge each other. They're like each other's confidant or therapist, whichever you prefer. Clio's always thought of herself as a bit of a loner. To her, everyone else is "normal". Through Dash, Clio can be introduced to people in the same situation as them both. She'd been told a lot, she's learned a lot, she's read a lot of textbooks but Clio hasn't had any "hands on" experience with these kinds of people and I honestly think knowing Dash can open up new doors for her.

I also have plans with the lovely Sarah's @Amanj Namdar. She and Amanj met years ago in Paris. She wasn't alarmed by his disability. In fact, she was rather comforted by it. He wouldn't know that she wore gloves or sat a comfortable distance away from him without meaning to. At the time they'd met, Clio's skills were still rather erratic. She was having trouble in the crowded city. She was in constant pain as she was jostled in the busy markets. She was unable to concentrate as too many emotions and thoughts were hitting her at once. But then she met Amanj.

He reached out for her hands and she offered them, ready for the stab of pain but she felt...warmth. No pain, no suffering, just warmth. He was the first person who hadn't hurt her in such a long time. They spent the summer together, Clio unwilling to let him go. He was the gateway to her happily ever after. She opened up to him and he didn't think she was weird, they often made jokes about the hand life has dealt them both. The pair still keep in contact and Amanj acts sort of as Clio's grounding, like an earthing rod. When things get crazy, she knows that she can go to him and hold his hands and he can keep her safe. For this, he's turned out to be a rather integral part of her life.

Clio thinks she's not allowed to have a relationship and that's where @Gavin and his WIP, Phillipe, come in. With any luck, they'll eventually start dating. There's going to be a lot of ups and downs considering Clio's gifts. Phillipe isn't like her usual type. They meet suddenly and he leaves a lasting impression, both literally and figuratively. Their hands brush very briefly on their first meeting and Clio feels a rush of pleasure, not pain. That, alone, is cause for concern for her. In true Cinderella fashion, she flees before he can find out anything more about her. It throws her for a loop. Hours afterwards, she'll feel euphoria. Warm and pleasant, it takes a while for her to shake it off. Clio will have to wrestle a number of things; new sensations, her feelings and how she's going to deal with him as Phillippe isn't one to give up easily, despite how many times she rebuffs him. She's so used to living her life a certain way and never taking any risks, she'll soon learn that sometimes, living out of your comfort zone isn't all that bad.

Clio will also know @Toya's Zahira Bagri. Though their gifts are similar, they're not the same. Both Clio and Zahira's gifts have physical effects on them and Clio will find this comforting. They were introduced through Pascale, Clio's mentor. The two get on well and Clio, especially, is keen and eager to learn all about Zahira's talents. Both of their talents and resulting visions can be triggered by touch. Though Clio can't see what Zahria can, she can most certainly feel what she feels. Clio will be both comforted and confused by this. Both women have ties to the past and Clio will work with Zahira, using her as sort of a mentor and a confidant. Zahira is much more comfortable with her talents and Clio will, with any luck, be able to understand more of herself by meeting people with unusual gifts.

Through her mentor, Pascale, Clio will also meet @Frida Trickett's Sabela Portela. Pascale had been assigned to Beauxbatons, just to keep an eye on any cases, much like he had done with her when she was younger. Pascale sensed something in Sabela and instantly contacted Clio. Both girls were very similar and he hoped that Clio could offer some sort of hands on advice for Sabela.

The two spoke and whilst the younger girl was shy, Clio seemed to be able to talk to her. Why? Because she knew how it felt. Sabela was the mirror image of her when she was so young. She could easily understand the girl in a way that seemed to be totally unique to the pair of them. Pascale, though trained for this, didn't seem to connect with Sabela in a way that she could understand but Clio could. After a while, it seemed as though she'd be come the girl's mentor.

There was a lot of learning and a lot of things Sabela needed to know but Clio understood how to break things down. Her words were said in a way that made things seem a lot less frightening. Their shared gift was not a death sentence. It wasn't the end of the world. Currently, Sabela and Clio write to each other often. Clio is there to offer hands on advice for Sabela and in turn, Clio treats it as some sort of therapy. She's determined not to have the girl deal with this by herself.

Clio frowned.

She shifted her weight from one foot to the other anxiously. She jiggled, clenching and un clenching her fists as she folded her lips together into a thin line. Everything about her body language just screamed I don't want to do this. The tall woman was standing in the middle of large and airy room. It was sunny outside, the light streaming merrily through the leaves, looking dappled as it hit the hardwood floor beneath the large and ornate floor-to-ceiling windows. Everything was painted white. Minimal. Beautiful and expensive but she couldn't help but feel a bit...clinical. Harsh. Cold. The only pop of colour came from a vase of cut peonies that rested on the white grand piano.

"Do I have to?" Clio asked the man in the corner, her eyes sliding sideways to the wiry man who stood in front of the piano. Her heart dropped as he nodded. She and Pascale had been through a lot. He'd been by her side for over ten years. He'd been the reason that she'd stayed sane. He'd talked her out of throwing herself off her parents' roof when she was a teenager because she'd been unable to cope. He'd been a rock. Her relationship with her parents was now better but Clio knew. She knew that her mum was scared to hug her, that her father was scared to breach the subject. She was a human being, she was just a little..wonky.

She inhaled as she carefully peeled off her lace loves and folded them neatly, handing them over to the Frenchman as she took an unsure step forward. Before her, there were three people; two men and a woman. She'd never seen them and they'd never seen her. Perfect strangers. She knew why she was here. Clio could almost function has a normal human being but she was being reliant on her enchanted gloves. She'd been practicing. She could shake hands and she could endure a hug. But she needed more. She wanted to be able to hold hands. She wanted skin on skin. She wanted to be kissed. She wanted to cuddle. She needed this.

Shooting Pascale a worried glance, she reached out her hand to the first woman. They shook hands. Clio closed her eyes, muttering as quietly as she could the spells and incantations that would lessen the blows. She was well aware that the pain worsened when she was unprepared or stressed. As the woman's hand touched hers, Clio felt a brief electric or static shock, the type a person might get sliding down a metal slide wearing man-made fibres. "Ow," she complained. She grimaced and shook herself. Done. On to the next.

Standing in front of the man, he extended his arms and Clio hesitated. Sighing, she stepped forward and looped her arms around his neck in a hug. She winced as her hand touched the back of his neck briefly as she twitched. The pain was worse than the handshake but bearable, like a bee sting down her spine where his hands were resting. It was working. This time ten years ago, she'd be a crying mess on the floor, sobbing and shaking. Stepping back, her cheeks were red and she was horridly ashamed.

Stepping to the next man, Clio didn't want to progress. Hadn't she done enough already?

Pascale gave her a push, sending her stumbling towards the man. He was handsome. Tall and broad with dark hair and Byronic eyes. Not that it really mattered, it was still going to hurt. Frowning, she closed the gap and leaned up, pressing her lips very gently against his. The chaste touch was all it took. Her body reacted. It felt as though she'd been kissing a red hot poker. With a squawk of pain, she placed her hands on his chest and shoved him away from her with such force, she sent him stumbling into the grand piano. Now that the kiss had ended, her lips felt tingly, like after a fresh trip to the dentist. Wincing, she sighed, her shoulder sagging in defeat. "Sorry," she mumbled as the man righted himself. She offered him a shy smile. "Best of three?" She asked, hopefully.

DESCRIPTION OF THE CHARACTER:When I've created Zviad I had not given a special feature any thought. He was just going to be a "normal" student character who has some strengths but also many weaknesses. He is a guy who does not follow rules. He is a very independent and headstrong person who might not be a model student but sets goals for himself that he strives to reach. When he wants something there's nothing that can hold him back.

Currently Zviad is a fifth year student, originally a Rayasov and now sorted into Klyk Vampira. He gets into trouble frequently and doesn't fear the consequences. He is a free spirit, an independent person. He is no gregarious animal and does not give in to group pressure. Zviad does not trust people easily and is no teamplayer in general. There are things that he prefers to do alone or with one partner if anyone at all. Other people's feelings are of little interest to him unless these people are among his very few good friends. He is curious, enjoying to put his nose into things that are not his business and likes to find ways to punish people who he feels did him wrong.

The boy is both imaginative and rational, making him a good problem solver and someone who is well equipped to reach the goals he sets for himself. There are no limits for him when he wants to reach a goal, he manipulates, steals, blackmails, bribes... He does not shy away from crimes and always tries to exceed his limits.

Zviad wants to get the biggest piece of the cake but his background does not allow that. He is not much into competitions or into comparing himself to others but he definitely fights for what he wants.

Despite the fact that he is not the most diligent student, Zviad likes to read and study things that interest him but that's nothing he shares with others. He is also inclined to philosophy.

Zviad is able to adjust to changes quickly and likes challenges as they give him the chance to prove himself. He likes to take risks as that makes him feel alive.

While playing him, he developed a crush on Rumjana, wanted to learn how to play Quidditch, found that he disliked Oksana Viktorovna and decided he wanted to steal a dragon. While not a diligent student per se, Zviad sets himself goals and has ambitions. He is very stubborn, not giving up easily even when his endeavors prove to be difficult.

APPLICATION:

Zviad as an animagusWhile plots for him come easy and the character works well with and without the feature, the idea of the feature came up and although I put it off and tried to forget about it, it never really went away. It popped up again and again and at some point I decided it was time to give in and write this application despite the fact that I have never been into special features so much, thinking that characters can usually be interesting without them. However, the animagus feature is a perfect fit for Zviad.

He is individualistic, imaginative and intelligent. The boy is freedom loving and likes a good challenge. His passion for flying and the fact that he cannot help but steal shiny things from others make it a logical development for him to choose the magpie as his 'spirit animal'. While Zviad is not attempting to stick out in particular he does not like to feel average and be like everybody else. Him studying something special like becoming a magpie animagus suits him well and makes a good hobby for him.

Zviad is generally happy with who he is but sometimes being a boy and being known for his inclination to steal is a hindrance. He would like to be able to fly without a broomstick and to change his appearance so he could sneak in somewhere without being recognised.

In case this feature gets approved I won't play him as already being able to transfigure himself fully. He will have reached the stage where he can transform parts of himself into parts of a magpie and will study hard to complete the full transfiguration soon. Zviad will work on his skills all summer so that, hopefully, he'll be able to turn into his animagus shape in one of the following playtime months.

The Magpie - Pica pica bactrianaThe magpie is probably the kind of flying animal that suits Zviad best. While there's no evidence for the rumours that magpies are thieves, they are known as that and are curious and clever animals with a play instinct, picking up things to study them. There have been stories, plays, even an opera (Rossini's La gazza ladra) about the stealing magpie which is one of the reasons for their bad reputation. This trait can be used for thievery at the very least.

Magpies are known to look for food on the ground and they like to steal the crop from the field, which makes them quite unpopular with farmers.

Generally magpies appear in the mythology of different cultures. In Europe the magpie has a mostly negative reputation as the bird of the Germanic goddess of death and as a messenger of doom. It was also infamous as gallows bird in the Medieval times. In Asia, however, the magpie is considered a good luck symbol. This ambiguity works well for what I have in mind of Zviad as he is both black and white just like the feathers of the bird).

A magpie is part of the crow family and 45–60 cm (18–24 in) long (head to tail). The bird's plumage looks almost black and white on first glance but on closer inspection the blacks have a iridescent shine of greens, blues and purples. The tail feathers of this kind of magpie have a slight bronze shimmer.

The striking feature and distinguishing mark for Zviad in his magpie shape will be the bird's eyes which are of a bright shade of blue-green just like the boy's natural eye colour.

The stages of Animagus TransformationStage One: Zviad has already started working on transformations in the past few months. He will manage his first full transformation sometime in the summer and will have to learn how to move as a magpie. This will prove rather difficult considering he will have wings instead of arms. While learning how to move on the ground won't take him long, he will have to work out how to use his wings to fly which can lead to some quite funny scenes which I'd love to play out as well. Besides he will have to learn to seize things with his beak or feet rather than with his hands.

Stage Two: He will have reached this stage by the start of the new year at school and will try to use his animal shape for the first time in order to steal. At this time he might also try to interact with other birds and might get in trouble with them for being 'different'.

Stage Three: With the end of his time at school, Zviad will also have reached stage three of his animagus transformation and will feel as comfortable in his animal shape as in his human shape and use his ability to turn into a bird more and more. He will also partly identify as magpie. The more progress Zviad makes on his way to becoming an animagus the more traits of the bird he will take on. I'd imagine that he will also start to enjoy the kind of nutriment (worms, insects,...) that magpies like.

Stage Four: Transformations will come easily by this time and Zviad will be an adult by then. He will be able to communicate with other birds and maybe find a magpie lady to charm just for the fun of it.

DurmstrangOf course there's the problem that Durmstrang does not offer a Transfiguration class and that there are no played animagi in this region yet. However, Zviad can study from books and I'd like to introduce an NPC (who would be up for adoption then) who is older and an animagus who could offer some assistance. Furthermore I've spoken to @Taed and we've worked out connections with his chars Gauvain Améliore and DJ Conway but that's something to rather speak of in the next section of this application.

FUTURE PLOTS:Gauvain Améliore: When Gauvain was appointed as Métamorphose professor an article about him and his work appeared in an edition of the magazine "Transfiguration Today" which Zviad has been fortunate enough to read in the Durmstrang library. The boy decided to write the Transfiguration expert, hoping to get some advice and help from him. It turned out that Gauvain was actually interested in being involved in the project of the boy becoming an animagus and ever since supports him with advice mostly per owl mail.

DJ Conway: Damien is an aspiring animagus himself and due to the penpal programme he and Zviad started exchanging letters. They became the sort of friends Zviad never thought he'd have. With DJ he felt he could share his thoughts about becoming an animagus. They will write each other about their progress and their problems with their studies as well as talk about their chosen animal shapes.

Oksana Viktorovna Krylova: Once Zviad manages to transfigure himself fully he will try and fly into Oksana's office and meet Karl, Oksana's pet / mini dragon. This will lead to him getting some burns which affect him in his human shape as well. However, he'll snatch a precious item from her room which will lead to further plots as it might be some magical item with special powers (we'll figure the details out later).

Mihaela Lupesco: Mihaela is Zviad's partner in crime. These two like to break rules together and Zviad will confide in Mihaela about his ambitions. She will support his endeavour and when he encounters problems he will come to her. There'll be one situation when he manages a part transfiguration of himself and doesn't manage to reverse it again alone. Then he'll come to her, hoping that together they can get it sorted out together.

Rumjana Kalishnikova: While Zviad does entrust Mihaela with his secret, he won't go to Rumjana to tell her. However, one day she will surprise him when he thinks he's alone and see either a part transformation or a pile of books on the matter and will confront him about it. He fancies Rumjana but their relationship is still rather difficult. Therefore, the boy will have to figure out how to explain himself and how much to tell her.

Further ideas:

Another plot that could involve Rumjana or any Quidditch playing or practising chars is that Zviad will, once he manages a full transfiguration of himself, chase a snitch and catch it before any of the players can.

He will steal from people in a more sneaky way than before and there are plenty of chances of people seeing the stolen things with him or seeing the magpie steal valuable items.

Since Zviad likes to feel in power, he will use his animal shape to spy on other students. The secrets he'll find out will help him to blackmail others into doing his homework or whatever else he needs. He might even try to find out things about staff members and work on blackmailing them into giving him passing grades. If that works or not does not matter. He can get detentions or other punishments for that of course.

Seeing how a magpie is not exactly a big animal and cannot defend itself very well against people, especially witches or wizards, I'd be happy to develop a plot where someone catches him in his animal shape and he has to see how he can escape again.

Once Zviad manages a full transformation his next task will be to figure out how to fly. This has potential to lead to some awkward (and for him painful) situations which other characters might witness.

RP SAMPLE USING THE FEATURE:Zviad was sitting outside under a tree as far away from the school building as possible. Books were covering the grass surrounding him. While the boy was not a diligent student, he was a talented young wizard who was eager to learn more about one particular branch of magic. He was particularly intrigued by human transfiguration, studying the subject whenever he had some time.

He could transfigure things easily by now. He even succeeded when it came to changing one animal into another. What he desperately wanted to do though was to transfigure himself. It would come in so handy. With some months of practice the boy managed to let feathers sprout from his skin but he had not yet managed to transform fully into what he wanted to become.

Zviad wanted to fly. He wanted to be a bird and not just any bird. The Georgian wanted to turn himself into a magpie, thinking that this particular bird suited him well. The feathers he was now admiring on his left arm were a very dark shade of blue, almost black and white. If only he could already spread his wings and fly...

Aside from the mere pleasure of being able to fly without a broom, Zviad wanted to use his animal shape to get through open windows, spy on people and steal small things. Turning into a bird would open up doors for him that were usually closed for the boy Zviad.

He stroked his left arm/wing with his right hand, running his fingers over almost glossy feathers when he heard steps from nearby. It was too late to quickly retransfigure his wing into a normal arm. He tried to hide it behind his back, looking around suspiciously, hoping that whoever was approaching would either pass quickly or be one of the very few people he trusted.

Name: KatyaCharacter name: Iskandar RomanovFeature you are applying for: LycanthropyDescription of the character:

Having spent most of his adult life constantly on the move Iskandar is suspicious of other people. He tends to keep his distance if he ventures into a city or a town, doing whatever he can not to draw any attention to himself. He prefers to spend his time deep in the woods as far away from people as possible. Basically fending for himself has given Iskandar patience. He has learned to take his time and do things right rather than rush to get things done. Knowing this allows him to stay calm and focused on the task at hand. The man is quick on his feet and good with his hands, building most of the things he will need on his travels.

Spending all his time deep in the woods has not diminished his intelligence. He often reads, mostly the same five books, if he isn't writing about the world around him. Though he has no family around him, aside from his dogs, the man is protective of those he would consider closer then an acquaintance. When he settles down in any location he makes sure to set up camp away from people and the possible dangers of the woods. This is not done for his own protection as the man can properly defend him but more for the protection of his dogs. Iskandar is quiet and soft spoken if he does have to interact with people. He does not string long sentences together nor does he actively participate in the conversation aside from the occasional business deals.He is an avid hunter, skilled with both the bow and the knife, as he has had to fend for himself.

The man has excellent survival skills from his nearly 30 years constantly on the move because of the beast within. He never stays in any one place for more than a month, feeling that any longer would be a risk to his life. Iskandar is stubborn, feeling his way is always the best way. Being alone for the better half of his adult life has kept the man from being challenged and when it happens it is hard to sway him from his cause or beliefs. It is rare for his to exhibit sign of rage or aggression, learning early on that doing so can have terrible consequences. Meditation and his constant journaling has allowed him to control the more aggressive part of himself. Though he calm it is hard for the man to truly relax. He fears that his secret will get out and people will hunt him down in the night. He fears for the safety of others should an unforgivable situation arise.

Application:

When I first thought of a werewolf as a character I imagined him to be much younger and less in control. As I thought about it and discussed it things changed. I wanted a more mature and well adjusted wolf, someone who had accepted the fate they had been given. I sat back and considered how it would change what I had formed in my head. I realized I didn’t want the wolf to make the man. I didn’t want to make a character that was solely defined by the wolf, I wanted them to be their own person even if the wolf wasn’t apart that. Iskandar would be the same secluded person without the wolf. It’s something I knew would be a definite about his character.

Iskandar has been a wolf for 26 years and in that time he has only taken the life of one person. He was bitten after finishing his seventh year at Koldovstoretz. A celebratory hunting trip with his father would alter his life forever. The two lost track of time and set up camp for the night in the woods of Romania, ignoring the hushed whispers about the things that went bump in the night.

Iskandar and his father were attacked in the middle of the night by one wolf, relentlessly. By morning Iskandar was nearly dead and his father’s body was nowhere to be found. Saved by a group of Nights Triumph members searching the woods, Iskandar begged for his own death hating what he would become if he survived. After the death of his mother Iskandar took himself from society, keeping himself deep in the woods at all times. It took him a few months to realize he needed companionship and in that would begin his love of dogs. At first it was hard for Iskandar, the shifting under the moon wore his body down and drained his mind. he was exhausted for nearly two weeks after the full moon. He fought that side of his and it would seem that he was at constant war with himself. His body was cover in scars and deep wounds inflicted upon himself out of his own frustration.

Living so far from civilization and always in the company of his dogs, Iskandar had tamed the wolf within. As his dogs aged he thought them to correct the bad behavior of each other, thus allowing them to do so under the full moon. If he ventured too far towards people, the dogs would lead him away. If he caused harm to himself he was quickly reprimanded and distracted with play. It would seem as the years passed the wolf grew to be more docile and accustom to the routine of hunt and play with it’s pack.

Future plots:

Geneviève Lémieux: Iskanadar will meet Geneviève after his youngest dog wanders off towards the clearing to her small home. It will be this chance meeting that will lead him to her again after he gets hurt, seeking her help. The two will become close and during one full moon Iskandar will attack her despite placing himself far away from her to ensure this doesn't happen.

Mihaela Lupesco: After being saved by the Nights Triumph Iskandar has done his best to stay away from Romania but the burning urge to know the wolf that turned him will lead him back there. He will go to the small village of Scoarţă, where he will meet with Mihaela seeking the answers to his questions.

Nemsi Khawale:While repaying a debt to a necromancer Iskandar will be sent to infect Nemsi. Under the sway of the full moon and without the aid of his dogs Isandar will attack Nemsi, though his attempt to infect the man will be less then effective as Nemsi will partially morph to protect himself.

Nazreen Ajay: After stumbling upon him during his shift after a full moon, Nazreen has been a constant and friend in Iskandar's life. After his battle with Nemsi, Iskandar will call on her for support and aid while he gains enough strength to feel safe enough to seek trusted medical help.

RP sample using the feature:

"Jump, I'll catch you. Promise."

A strong hand moved out to hold tightly to a tree, in hopes that his control would somewhat stay intact. The shuddering sound of his bones breaking and reshaping themselves echoed around him. He could smell them now, so close and unsuspecting. The wolf was in a frenzy, starved for the kill that waited on the other side of the transformation Iskandar tried to fight for the first time in the decades he had been the beast. His body dropped to the dirt, his blood sizzled in his veins as the man palms came into contact with the cool earth.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhh!"

Blue eyes shifted towards the sound of laughter and innocence, the splash of the water heightening everything surrounding him. His hands rose to pull the shirt from his form as the skin beneath it grew too hot for his own comfort. Deafening was the sound of his shifting bones as the transformation rounded it's last turn. Red ears twitched, hearing the soft sound of the dogs breathing next to him. Sharp canines displayed themselves as his top lip was pulled back and snarl echoed around him. "No. Don't." The overly large red wolf shook it's head violently, silencing the voice in it's head. He would enjoy this hunt, it had been so long now. So much time had passed since he had tasted warm blood, fresh blood, human blood.

SPLASH!

The trees blurred passed him as strong muscles carried him on the path his nose provided. He zigged and zagged as if he had been born to do so, jumping over the fallen branches of trees being brought back to life by the warmth of spring. The smell of his meal became ever-present as his body slowed. Lightly highlighted shoulders shifted and the wolf lowered itself to prepare for the lunge it had been waiting for, for more years then it would ever like to admit.

WHAM!

The ground knocked the air from his lungs, so much so that the growl he attempted never left his throat. Stark blue eyes landed on the two dogs standing in it's way, blocking his meal. He rose slowly, towering over the smaller - weaker- animals before him. Perk ears twitched as the sound of his meal began to drift farther into the background. He was being challenged and despite his nature to take a stand the dog before him was demanding his respect. The meal would be one that was lost, it became clear as his body lowered itself to the cool dirt. Taking the affection for his good behavior just moments later. His snout lifted up to try and catch the scent in the air, faint but still there, it teased him. Told him that there was still a chance to break free. Still a chance to be as destructive as he wanted without the obstacles that now attempted to coax him into play.

Clio is a sensitive woman. From a young age, she has always felt different and excluded. She's always had problems getting close to people, despite the intense desire to make friends and be accepted. She's selfless. She's also other worldly. The way she acts almost makes her seem..strange. Clio is a traditional woman with traditional morals and an old fashioned sense of what should be accepted. She just doesn't seem to "fit" into this world. She's an old soul. A believer in past lives and reincarnation, I think this'd be a fun idea to explore. Despite the pain she suffers, touch is one of her loves. She likes to feel wanted and she'd been too used to being thrown aside.

Clio is a humanitarian at heart. She's a deep, complex character. She's a dreamer but she's also a doer. She had big dreams but also plans to back them up. She can sometimes be mistaken for an extrovert, just because she's so interested in people. She loves to talk and even more so to listen. Next to touch, talking is one of the most intimate things a person can so according to her. She's actually very introverted. Not a lot of people know about her "fault" as she calls it. She loves the idea of love but she's sort of given up on the idea that it might happen to her. She's learning but she's not quite strong enough to bare her soul, after years of people thinking she's a little strange, she's started to believe this, too.

Clio is very empathetic, also. She's very self-expressive. She's articulate and kind and she has a strong sort of ethereal charisma. Clio dresses in vintage styles. Anything from long and draped twenties dresses with fringing to the cute French Riviera style of the fifties with capri trousers and headscarves. She invites people closer as she doesn't want to feel lonely any more. Her chosen profession is one that she can do alone, partly because she's comfortable with it but mostly because she's scared of failure. Being an astronomer offers Clio the perfect balance of freedom and learning.

Her gift has changed her. She's now more comfortable, well, as comfortable as she could get. It's made her cautious. She knows she's rather unusual. She has a hard time making friends. She usually wears gloves, too. She favours lace gloves in summer which have been charmed. The material is thin and beautiful but has the same sort of strength has dragon hide to keep her from accidentally touching someone.

She's almost like a lone wolf on occasion. She can suffer bouts of rather heavy deja vu. The phrase, "old soul" is used a lot but it does seem to describe her. Clio spends a lot of time by herself and as such, she has a lot of time to think. She often wonders about the world and takes joy in realising just how small and insignificant she really is in the grand scheme of things. She's wise beyond her years, completely. She's world weary and perhaps a little jaded but she's not quite ready to throw in the towel just yet.

Clio's parents knew something wasn't quite right as soon as she was born.

Clio refused to breastfeed, leaving her mother confused and stressed. She let out an almighty fuss whenever she was touched, whether it be to be cuddled or changed. These weren't the usual cries of a newborn baby; these were shrieks of pain. They were so loud, Healers often came running into the room but upon checking her over thoroughly, there wasn't anything physically the matter with her.

As she grew, she behaved much the same way. Children were rough, as children were. They often tested one another's boundaries and after one play flight with the neighbour's children when she was about four years old, Clio started crying again, even if the touch was feather light. This always happened and after a while, her friends didn't call around so much. As a result, Clio became more and more withdrawn. With her worried parents, they forced her into playgroups which always ended in tears. As Clio grew, she wasn't able to communicate her feelings and as a result, she became increasingly frustrated. Eventually, she turned violent and she couldn't stop it. She hadn't meant to hurt anyone or to strike out. The pain was so intense at times, she even screamed at her mother when she was very delicately brushing her hair.

When she started Beauxbatons, things didn't get any better. Hitting puberty was a turning point. Clio had to deal with the usual mess of emotions that teenage years brought. She felt lost and lonely and she was upset and not sure what she was doing wrong. She shied away from potential boyfriends, the fear of intimacy seemingly sewn into her very being. Everyone called her a freak and eventually, she believed it.

Things came to a head one summer's afternoon when she was thirteen years old. It was Friday and classes were ending for the weekend. Clio had asked to leave early, claiming she was ill but really, she just wanted to avoid the inevitable crush of students spilling out into the hallways. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. She was caught in the swell of humans. The jostling felt like a thousand tiny daggers slicing her skin. She felt hot, like she was suffocating. The emotions around her were tangled and affecting her. Being touched by so many people at once short circuited her system and the result was her collapsing to the floor with a cry of pain.

Clio found herself waking up, surrounded by her teachers. They knew something she didn't. A Consensimens, they said. In and out of consciousness, she'd heard that word tossed around often. They'd had letters from her parents and they'd been watching her. Upon hearing the explanation, things seemed to slot into place. It all made sense to her now.

The following day, a man from the French Ministry of Magic showed up. He was called Pascale Duvall. He was a kind and friendly man. He sat a respectful distance from her and offered her a pair of delicate pale pastel gloves. They'd been enchanted, he said. They would offer Clio a barrier between her skin and anything she touched.

He gave her textbooks and notes and stayed with her, helping her understand and he began to train her. They began slow but it was painful and arduous and it often left Clio exhausted and emotionally drained but it was okay. She knew what was wrong with her and so, she could try and fix it. Pascale was a friend now and she learned various spells, charms and things to help her do simple things, just like shaking hands. Even with her gloves, it didn't stop the feeling. The touch of his hands often caused her to faint or fly into a defensive rage, leaving her shaking and crying. She felt as though Pascale couldn't understand. Though patient and sympathetic, he couldn't feel what she could feel.

In her latter teenage years, she could do the basics thanks to Pascale and his tireless advice. Clio, when she hit nineteen, could shake hands and allow a person to stroke her hair. It seemed like a small thing but really, it took all of her energy as she had to retrain her brain to let people in. The feelings were still unpleasant but now tolerable. It felt like a nettle sting; a sharp pain and then general discomfort. Like a toothache. She gradually learned to block out the touch as best she could, projecting, using everything she learned from Pascale. He'd come up with various methods of coping. Everything from meditation to deep breathing and everything in between.

In her mid-twenties, Clio could eventually untangle and make sense of what she was feeling from other people. She could differentiate bad from good, pleasure from pain. In her late-twenties, Clio forced herself out of her comfort zone. She needed to touch more people in order to be able to tolerate it. She started in bars, with "accidental" touches on people as they ordered drinks. She had good days where the pain was more of a tingle and terrible days, where the sensation felt like she'd placed her hands on a hot stove. It seemed to depend on who the person she touched was like. It was like Clio was able to discern what a person was like just from a brief touch. Clio has learned to trust her gut as it was very rarely wrong.

Entering her thirties, she's relaxed a little bit. Clio is now so lonely and there's a big hole in her heart. This "gift" has stopped her from experiencing love and she's been trying so hard to overcome the barriers that she's put up.

---

When I originally thought of Clio, I was thinking of maybe making her a Seer. On further thought, I decided it wouldn't really fit. Clio thinks this "gift" is more of a curse and it's affected her personality in such a strong way. She's afraid and she's withdrawn. I really like the idea of Clio pushing herself forward. I love character development!

Clio is a big believer in the idea of past lives and reincarnation. She's a very spiritual woman and I think the best fit for her would be take this path. I like the idea of her trying to better herself. I also like the idea of Clio having "snippets" of insight of a person, just by touching them. I feel that this is much more how she'd operate and I hope this isn't crossing the line into being some sort of seer but I do feel as though the two can overlap at times. I feel as this is how she navigates the world. She has trust issues and touching someone, even for a second, would be how she chooses who and who not to trust.

I think this is a really fun feature because a character is born with it. They don't need to have a set of traits in order to fit in with the ideals set out. It's a rare feature (and a badass, underutilized one) and I'd love to give it a whirl. I think it's exciting and mysterious. The feature seems to touch on The Sight. The two can overlap and I'd really like for her to be able to have some sort of straddling middle ground. This feature is extra fun because it's like taking the best parts of two features and mashing them together to make something amazing. Rather than seeing a person's future, Clio gets a glimpse right into their soul which I think it amazingly cool.

It's exciting. It really does define her character. I've never played a character with such an affliction. I've never played a character where he or she is limited in such a way. There's so much scope for amazing threads and character development. It's something completely new to me and I'd be thrilled and honoured if you'd let me try :]

Vannah and I have something worked out with @Izajasz "Whisper" Szymański. Both Clio and Whisper met when they were teenagers in Monaco. It was a summer fling but Clio was rather taken with him. They hung out a lot by the harbours and she grew close to him. One day, Whisper asked to try and read her mind. She laughed, thinking he was a bit silly but she let him. The trial ended up as a mistake. Whisper hadn't quite garnered full control of his ability and as a result, implanted one of his memories into Clio's mind. It made her feel sick and suddenly, his touch burned her. It seared her, hotter and darker and more frightening than anything she'd ever experienced before.

Clio left suddenly and didn't return. Ever since, her skills have been more pronounced. She sometimes feels phantom pain or tingles with a weird sensation that's all to do with Whisper. If he's hurt or if he's uncomfortable, she gets a fleeting sensation in her palms. We plan to have Clio and Whisper "linked" in some way, possibly by a shared memory. They're going to bump into one another again as adults and Whisper is going to want to either exploit or learn more about Clio's gift. He wanted to have a tinker with her mind and try and see how she gained her skill. The result will make Clio realise that they're connected more deeply than she's aware.

Vannah's also been very kind to let me make plans with @Arden Dasher. Arden and Clio are similar but not the same. They share certain traits but they also know exactly how it feels to suffer from pain and confusion. I have it down that they both have a certain affinity. They've been through a lot and they take comfort in one another, knowing that they won't judge each other. They're like each other's confidant or therapist, whichever you prefer. Clio's always thought of herself as a bit of a loner. To her, everyone else is "normal". Through Dash, Clio can be introduced to people in the same situation as them both. She'd been told a lot, she's learned a lot, she's read a lot of textbooks but Clio hasn't had any "hands on" experience with these kinds of people and I honestly think knowing Dash can open up new doors for her.

I also have plans with the lovely Sarah's @Amanj Namdar. She and Amanj met years ago in Paris. She wasn't alarmed by his disability. In fact, she was rather comforted by it. He wouldn't know that she wore gloves or sat a comfortable distance away from him without meaning to. At the time they'd met, Clio's skills were still rather erratic. She was having trouble in the crowded city. She was in constant pain as she was jostled in the busy markets. She was unable to concentrate as too many emotions and thoughts were hitting her at once. But then she met Amanj.

He reached out for her hands and she offered them, ready for the stab of pain but she felt...warmth. No pain, no suffering, just warmth. He was the first person who hadn't hurt her in such a long time. They spent the summer together, Clio unwilling to let him go. He was the gateway to her happily ever after. She opened up to him and he didn't think she was weird, they often made jokes about the hand life has dealt them both. The pair still keep in contact and Amanj acts sort of as Clio's grounding, like an earthing rod. When things get crazy, she knows that she can go to him and hold his hands and he can keep her safe. For this, he's turned out to be a rather integral part of her life.

Clio thinks she's not allowed to have a relationship and that's where @Gavin and his WIP, Phillipe, come in. With any luck, they'll eventually start dating. There's going to be a lot of ups and downs considering Clio's gifts. Phillipe isn't like her usual type. They meet suddenly and he leaves a lasting impression, both literally and figuratively. Their hands brush very briefly on their first meeting and Clio feels a rush of pleasure, not pain. That, alone, is cause for concern for her. In true Cinderella fashion, she flees before he can find out anything more about her. It throws her for a loop. Hours afterwards, she'll feel euphoria. Warm and pleasant, it takes a while for her to shake it off. Clio will have to wrestle a number of things; new sensations, her feelings and how she's going to deal with him as Phillippe isn't one to give up easily, despite how many times she rebuffs him. She's so used to living her life a certain way and never taking any risks, she'll soon learn that sometimes, living out of your comfort zone isn't all that bad.

Clio will also know @Toya's Zahira Bagri. Though their gifts are similar, they're not the same. Both Clio and Zahira's gifts have physical effects on them and Clio will find this comforting. They were introduced through Pascale, Clio's mentor. The two get on well and Clio, especially, is keen and eager to learn all about Zahira's talents. Both of their talents and resulting visions can be triggered by touch. Though Clio can't see what Zahria can, she can most certainly feel what she feels. Clio will be both comforted and confused by this. Both women have ties to the past and Clio will work with Zahira, using her as sort of a mentor and a confidant. Zahira is much more comfortable with her talents and Clio will, with any luck, be able to understand more of herself by meeting people with unusual gifts.

Through her mentor, Pascale, Clio will also meet @Frida Trickett's Sabela Portela. Pascale had been assigned to Beauxbatons, just to keep an eye on any cases, much like he had done with her when she was younger. Pascale sensed something in Sabela and instantly contacted Clio. Both girls were very similar and he hoped that Clio could offer some sort of hands on advice for Sabela.

The two spoke and whilst the younger girl was shy, Clio seemed to be able to talk to her. Why? Because she knew how it felt. Sabela was the mirror image of her when she was so young. She could easily understand the girl in a way that seemed to be totally unique to the pair of them. Pascale, though trained for this, didn't seem to connect with Sabela in a way that she could understand but Clio could. After a while, it seemed as though she'd be come the girl's mentor.

There was a lot of learning and a lot of things Sabela needed to know but Clio understood how to break things down. Her words were said in a way that made things seem a lot less frightening. Their shared gift was not a death sentence. It wasn't the end of the world. Currently, Sabela and Clio write to each other often. Clio is there to offer hands on advice for Sabela and in turn, Clio treats it as some sort of therapy. She's determined not to have the girl deal with this by herself.

Clio frowned.

She shifted her weight from one foot to the other anxiously. She jiggled, clenching and un clenching her fists as she folded her lips together into a thin line. Everything about her body language just screamed I don't want to do this. The tall woman was standing in the middle of large and airy room. It was sunny outside, the light streaming merrily through the leaves, looking dappled as it hit the hardwood floor beneath the large and ornate floor-to-ceiling windows. Everything was painted white. Minimal. Beautiful and expensive but she couldn't help but feel a bit...clinical. Harsh. Cold. The only pop of colour came from a vase of cut peonies that rested on the white grand piano.

"Do I have to?" Clio asked the man in the corner, her eyes sliding sideways to the wiry man who stood in front of the piano. Her heart dropped as he nodded. She and Pascale had been through a lot. He'd been by her side for over ten years. He'd been the reason that she'd stayed sane. He'd talked her out of throwing herself off her parents' roof when she was a teenager because she'd been unable to cope. He'd been a rock. Her relationship with her parents was now better but Clio knew. She knew that her mum was scared to hug her, that her father was scared to breach the subject. She was a human being, she was just a little..wonky.

She inhaled as she carefully peeled off her lace loves and folded them neatly, handing them over to the Frenchman as she took an unsure step forward. Before her, there were three people; two men and a woman. She'd never seen them and they'd never seen her. Perfect strangers. She knew why she was here. Clio could almost function has a normal human being but she was being reliant on her enchanted gloves. She'd been practicing. She could shake hands and she could endure a hug. But she needed more. She wanted to be able to hold hands. She wanted skin on skin. She wanted to be kissed. She wanted to cuddle. She needed this.

Shooting Pascale a worried glance, she reached out her hand to the first woman. They shook hands. Clio closed her eyes, muttering as quietly as she could the spells and incantations that would lessen the blows. She was well aware that the pain worsened when she was unprepared or stressed. As the woman's hand touched hers, Clio felt a brief electric or static shock, the type a person might get sliding down a metal slide wearing man-made fibres. "Ow," she complained. She grimaced and shook herself. Done. On to the next.

Standing in front of the man, he extended his arms and Clio hesitated. Sighing, she stepped forward and looped her arms around his neck in a hug. She winced as her hand touched the back of his neck briefly as she twitched. The pain was worse than the handshake but bearable, like a bee sting down her spine where his hands were resting. It was working. This time ten years ago, she'd be a crying mess on the floor, sobbing and shaking. Stepping back, her cheeks were red and she was horridly ashamed.

Stepping to the next man, Clio didn't want to progress. Hadn't she done enough already?

Pascale gave her a push, sending her stumbling towards the man. He was handsome. Tall and broad with dark hair and Byronic eyes. Not that it really mattered, it was still going to hurt. Frowning, she closed the gap and leaned up, pressing her lips very gently against his. The chaste touch was all it took. Her body reacted. It felt as though she'd been kissing a red hot poker. With a squawk of pain, she placed her hands on his chest and shoved him away from her with such force, she sent him stumbling into the grand piano. Now that the kiss had ended, her lips felt tingly, like after a fresh trip to the dentist. Wincing, she sighed, her shoulder sagging in defeat. "Sorry," she mumbled as the man righted himself. She offered him a shy smile. "Best of three?" She asked, hopefully.

DESCRIPTION OF THE CHARACTER:When I've created Zviad I had not given a special feature any thought. He was just going to be a "normal" student character who has some strengths but also many weaknesses. He is a guy who does not follow rules. He is a very independent and headstrong person who might not be a model student but sets goals for himself that he strives to reach. When he wants something there's nothing that can hold him back.

Currently Zviad is a fifth year student, originally a Rayasov and now sorted into Klyk Vampira. He gets into trouble frequently and doesn't fear the consequences. He is a free spirit, an independent person. He is no gregarious animal and does not give in to group pressure. Zviad does not trust people easily and is no teamplayer in general. There are things that he prefers to do alone or with one partner if anyone at all. Other people's feelings are of little interest to him unless these people are among his very few good friends. He is curious, enjoying to put his nose into things that are not his business and likes to find ways to punish people who he feels did him wrong.

The boy is both imaginative and rational, making him a good problem solver and someone who is well equipped to reach the goals he sets for himself. There are no limits for him when he wants to reach a goal, he manipulates, steals, blackmails, bribes... He does not shy away from crimes and always tries to exceed his limits.

Zviad wants to get the biggest piece of the cake but his background does not allow that. He is not much into competitions or into comparing himself to others but he definitely fights for what he wants.

Despite the fact that he is not the most diligent student, Zviad likes to read and study things that interest him but that's nothing he shares with others. He is also inclined to philosophy.

Zviad is able to adjust to changes quickly and likes challenges as they give him the chance to prove himself. He likes to take risks as that makes him feel alive.

While playing him, he developed a crush on Rumjana, wanted to learn how to play Quidditch, found that he disliked Oksana Viktorovna and decided he wanted to steal a dragon. While not a diligent student per se, Zviad sets himself goals and has ambitions. He is very stubborn, not giving up easily even when his endeavors prove to be difficult.

APPLICATION:

Zviad as an animagusWhile plots for him come easy and the character works well with and without the feature, the idea of the feature came up and although I put it off and tried to forget about it, it never really went away. It popped up again and again and at some point I decided it was time to give in and write this application despite the fact that I have never been into special features so much, thinking that characters can usually be interesting without them. However, the animagus feature is a perfect fit for Zviad.

He is individualistic, imaginative and intelligent. The boy is freedom loving and likes a good challenge. His passion for flying and the fact that he cannot help but steal shiny things from others make it a logical development for him to choose the magpie as his 'spirit animal'. While Zviad is not attempting to stick out in particular he does not like to feel average and be like everybody else. Him studying something special like becoming a magpie animagus suits him well and makes a good hobby for him.

Zviad is generally happy with who he is but sometimes being a boy and being known for his inclination to steal is a hindrance. He would like to be able to fly without a broomstick and to change his appearance so he could sneak in somewhere without being recognised.

In case this feature gets approved I won't play him as already being able to transfigure himself fully. He will have reached the stage where he can transform parts of himself into parts of a magpie and will study hard to complete the full transfiguration soon. Zviad will work on his skills all summer so that, hopefully, he'll be able to turn into his animagus shape in one of the following playtime months.

The Magpie - Pica pica bactrianaThe magpie is probably the kind of flying animal that suits Zviad best. While there's no evidence for the rumours that magpies are thieves, they are known as that and are curious and clever animals with a play instinct, picking up things to study them. There have been stories, plays, even an opera (Rossini's La gazza ladra) about the stealing magpie which is one of the reasons for their bad reputation. This trait can be used for thievery at the very least.

Magpies are known to look for food on the ground and they like to steal the crop from the field, which makes them quite unpopular with farmers.

Generally magpies appear in the mythology of different cultures. In Europe the magpie has a mostly negative reputation as the bird of the Germanic goddess of death and as a messenger of doom. It was also infamous as gallows bird in the Medieval times. In Asia, however, the magpie is considered a good luck symbol. This ambiguity works well for what I have in mind of Zviad as he is both black and white just like the feathers of the bird).

A magpie is part of the crow family and 45–60 cm (18–24 in) long (head to tail). The bird's plumage looks almost black and white on first glance but on closer inspection the blacks have a iridescent shine of greens, blues and purples. The tail feathers of this kind of magpie have a slight bronze shimmer.

The striking feature and distinguishing mark for Zviad in his magpie shape will be the bird's eyes which are of a bright shade of blue-green just like the boy's natural eye colour.

The stages of Animagus TransformationStage One: Zviad has already started working on transformations in the past few months. He will manage his first full transformation sometime in the summer and will have to learn how to move as a magpie. This will prove rather difficult considering he will have wings instead of arms. While learning how to move on the ground won't take him long, he will have to work out how to use his wings to fly which can lead to some quite funny scenes which I'd love to play out as well. Besides he will have to learn to seize things with his beak or feet rather than with his hands.

Stage Two: He will have reached this stage by the start of the new year at school and will try to use his animal shape for the first time in order to steal. At this time he might also try to interact with other birds and might get in trouble with them for being 'different'.

Stage Three: With the end of his time at school, Zviad will also have reached stage three of his animagus transformation and will feel as comfortable in his animal shape as in his human shape and use his ability to turn into a bird more and more. He will also partly identify as magpie. The more progress Zviad makes on his way to becoming an animagus the more traits of the bird he will take on. I'd imagine that he will also start to enjoy the kind of nutriment (worms, insects,...) that magpies like.

Stage Four: Transformations will come easily by this time and Zviad will be an adult by then. He will be able to communicate with other birds and maybe find a magpie lady to charm just for the fun of it.

DurmstrangOf course there's the problem that Durmstrang does not offer a Transfiguration class and that there are no played animagi in this region yet. However, Zviad can study from books and I'd like to introduce an NPC (who would be up for adoption then) who is older and an animagus who could offer some assistance. Furthermore I've spoken to @Taed and we've worked out connections with his chars Gauvain Améliore and DJ Conway but that's something to rather speak of in the next section of this application.

FUTURE PLOTS:Gauvain Améliore: When Gauvain was appointed as Métamorphose professor an article about him and his work appeared in an edition of the magazine "Transfiguration Today" which Zviad has been fortunate enough to read in the Durmstrang library. The boy decided to write the Transfiguration expert, hoping to get some advice and help from him. It turned out that Gauvain was actually interested in being involved in the project of the boy becoming an animagus and ever since supports him with advice mostly per owl mail.

DJ Conway: Damien is an aspiring animagus himself and due to the penpal programme he and Zviad started exchanging letters. They became the sort of friends Zviad never thought he'd have. With DJ he felt he could share his thoughts about becoming an animagus. They will write each other about their progress and their problems with their studies as well as talk about their chosen animal shapes.

Oksana Viktorovna Krylova: Once Zviad manages to transfigure himself fully he will try and fly into Oksana's office and meet Karl, Oksana's pet / mini dragon. This will lead to him getting some burns which affect him in his human shape as well. However, he'll snatch a precious item from her room which will lead to further plots as it might be some magical item with special powers (we'll figure the details out later).

Mihaela Lupesco: Mihaela is Zviad's partner in crime. These two like to break rules together and Zviad will confide in Mihaela about his ambitions. She will support his endeavour and when he encounters problems he will come to her. There'll be one situation when he manages a part transfiguration of himself and doesn't manage to reverse it again alone. Then he'll come to her, hoping that together they can get it sorted out together.

Rumjana Kalishnikova: While Zviad does entrust Mihaela with his secret, he won't go to Rumjana to tell her. However, one day she will surprise him when he thinks he's alone and see either a part transformation or a pile of books on the matter and will confront him about it. He fancies Rumjana but their relationship is still rather difficult. Therefore, the boy will have to figure out how to explain himself and how much to tell her.

Further ideas:

Another plot that could involve Rumjana or any Quidditch playing or practising chars is that Zviad will, once he manages a full transfiguration of himself, chase a snitch and catch it before any of the players can.

He will steal from people in a more sneaky way than before and there are plenty of chances of people seeing the stolen things with him or seeing the magpie steal valuable items.

Since Zviad likes to feel in power, he will use his animal shape to spy on other students. The secrets he'll find out will help him to blackmail others into doing his homework or whatever else he needs. He might even try to find out things about staff members and work on blackmailing them into giving him passing grades. If that works or not does not matter. He can get detentions or other punishments for that of course.

Seeing how a magpie is not exactly a big animal and cannot defend itself very well against people, especially witches or wizards, I'd be happy to develop a plot where someone catches him in his animal shape and he has to see how he can escape again.

Once Zviad manages a full transformation his next task will be to figure out how to fly. This has potential to lead to some awkward (and for him painful) situations which other characters might witness.

RP SAMPLE USING THE FEATURE:Zviad was sitting outside under a tree as far away from the school building as possible. Books were covering the grass surrounding him. While the boy was not a diligent student, he was a talented young wizard who was eager to learn more about one particular branch of magic. He was particularly intrigued by human transfiguration, studying the subject whenever he had some time.

He could transfigure things easily by now. He even succeeded when it came to changing one animal into another. What he desperately wanted to do though was to transfigure himself. It would come in so handy. With some months of practice the boy managed to let feathers sprout from his skin but he had not yet managed to transform fully into what he wanted to become.

Zviad wanted to fly. He wanted to be a bird and not just any bird. The Georgian wanted to turn himself into a magpie, thinking that this particular bird suited him well. The feathers he was now admiring on his left arm were a very dark shade of blue, almost black and white. If only he could already spread his wings and fly...

Aside from the mere pleasure of being able to fly without a broom, Zviad wanted to use his animal shape to get through open windows, spy on people and steal small things. Turning into a bird would open up doors for him that were usually closed for the boy Zviad.

He stroked his left arm/wing with his right hand, running his fingers over almost glossy feathers when he heard steps from nearby. It was too late to quickly retransfigure his wing into a normal arm. He tried to hide it behind his back, looking around suspiciously, hoping that whoever was approaching would either pass quickly or be one of the very few people he trusted.

Name: KatyaCharacter name: Iskandar RomanovFeature you are applying for: LycanthropyDescription of the character:

Having spent most of his adult life constantly on the move Iskandar is suspicious of other people. He tends to keep his distance if he ventures into a city or a town, doing whatever he can not to draw any attention to himself. He prefers to spend his time deep in the woods as far away from people as possible. Basically fending for himself has given Iskandar patience. He has learned to take his time and do things right rather than rush to get things done. Knowing this allows him to stay calm and focused on the task at hand. The man is quick on his feet and good with his hands, building most of the things he will need on his travels.

Spending all his time deep in the woods has not diminished his intelligence. He often reads, mostly the same five books, if he isn't writing about the world around him. Though he has no family around him, aside from his dogs, the man is protective of those he would consider closer then an acquaintance. When he settles down in any location he makes sure to set up camp away from people and the possible dangers of the woods. This is not done for his own protection as the man can properly defend him but more for the protection of his dogs. Iskandar is quiet and soft spoken if he does have to interact with people. He does not string long sentences together nor does he actively participate in the conversation aside from the occasional business deals.He is an avid hunter, skilled with both the bow and the knife, as he has had to fend for himself.

The man has excellent survival skills from his nearly 30 years constantly on the move because of the beast within. He never stays in any one place for more than a month, feeling that any longer would be a risk to his life. Iskandar is stubborn, feeling his way is always the best way. Being alone for the better half of his adult life has kept the man from being challenged and when it happens it is hard to sway him from his cause or beliefs. It is rare for his to exhibit sign of rage or aggression, learning early on that doing so can have terrible consequences. Meditation and his constant journaling has allowed him to control the more aggressive part of himself. Though he calm it is hard for the man to truly relax. He fears that his secret will get out and people will hunt him down in the night. He fears for the safety of others should an unforgivable situation arise.

Application:

When I first thought of a werewolf as a character I imagined him to be much younger and less in control. As I thought about it and discussed it things changed. I wanted a more mature and well adjusted wolf, someone who had accepted the fate they had been given. I sat back and considered how it would change what I had formed in my head. I realized I didn’t want the wolf to make the man. I didn’t want to make a character that was solely defined by the wolf, I wanted them to be their own person even if the wolf wasn’t apart that. Iskandar would be the same secluded person without the wolf. It’s something I knew would be a definite about his character.

Iskandar has been a wolf for 26 years and in that time he has only taken the life of one person. He was bitten after finishing his seventh year at Koldovstoretz. A celebratory hunting trip with his father would alter his life forever. The two lost track of time and set up camp for the night in the woods of Romania, ignoring the hushed whispers about the things that went bump in the night.

Iskandar and his father were attacked in the middle of the night by one wolf, relentlessly. By morning Iskandar was nearly dead and his father’s body was nowhere to be found. Saved by a group of Nights Triumph members searching the woods, Iskandar begged for his own death hating what he would become if he survived. After the death of his mother Iskandar took himself from society, keeping himself deep in the woods at all times. It took him a few months to realize he needed companionship and in that would begin his love of dogs. At first it was hard for Iskandar, the shifting under the moon wore his body down and drained his mind. he was exhausted for nearly two weeks after the full moon. He fought that side of his and it would seem that he was at constant war with himself. His body was cover in scars and deep wounds inflicted upon himself out of his own frustration.

Living so far from civilization and always in the company of his dogs, Iskandar had tamed the wolf within. As his dogs aged he thought them to correct the bad behavior of each other, thus allowing them to do so under the full moon. If he ventured too far towards people, the dogs would lead him away. If he caused harm to himself he was quickly reprimanded and distracted with play. It would seem as the years passed the wolf grew to be more docile and accustom to the routine of hunt and play with it’s pack.

Future plots:

Geneviève Lémieux: Iskanadar will meet Geneviève after his youngest dog wanders off towards the clearing to her small home. It will be this chance meeting that will lead him to her again after he gets hurt, seeking her help. The two will become close and during one full moon Iskandar will attack her despite placing himself far away from her to ensure this doesn't happen.

Mihaela Lupesco: After being saved by the Nights Triumph Iskandar has done his best to stay away from Romania but the burning urge to know the wolf that turned him will lead him back there. He will go to the small village of Scoarţă, where he will meet with Mihaela seeking the answers to his questions.

Nemsi Khawale:While repaying a debt to a necromancer Iskandar will be sent to infect Nemsi. Under the sway of the full moon and without the aid of his dogs Isandar will attack Nemsi, though his attempt to infect the man will be less then effective as Nemsi will partially morph to protect himself.

Nazreen Ajay: After stumbling upon him during his shift after a full moon, Nazreen has been a constant and friend in Iskandar's life. After his battle with Nemsi, Iskandar will call on her for support and aid while he gains enough strength to feel safe enough to seek trusted medical help.

RP sample using the feature:

"Jump, I'll catch you. Promise."

A strong hand moved out to hold tightly to a tree, in hopes that his control would somewhat stay intact. The shuddering sound of his bones breaking and reshaping themselves echoed around him. He could smell them now, so close and unsuspecting. The wolf was in a frenzy, starved for the kill that waited on the other side of the transformation Iskandar tried to fight for the first time in the decades he had been the beast. His body dropped to the dirt, his blood sizzled in his veins as the man palms came into contact with the cool earth.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhh!"

Blue eyes shifted towards the sound of laughter and innocence, the splash of the water heightening everything surrounding him. His hands rose to pull the shirt from his form as the skin beneath it grew too hot for his own comfort. Deafening was the sound of his shifting bones as the transformation rounded it's last turn. Red ears twitched, hearing the soft sound of the dogs breathing next to him. Sharp canines displayed themselves as his top lip was pulled back and snarl echoed around him. "No. Don't." The overly large red wolf shook it's head violently, silencing the voice in it's head. He would enjoy this hunt, it had been so long now. So much time had passed since he had tasted warm blood, fresh blood, human blood.

SPLASH!

The trees blurred passed him as strong muscles carried him on the path his nose provided. He zigged and zagged as if he had been born to do so, jumping over the fallen branches of trees being brought back to life by the warmth of spring. The smell of his meal became ever-present as his body slowed. Lightly highlighted shoulders shifted and the wolf lowered itself to prepare for the lunge it had been waiting for, for more years then it would ever like to admit.

WHAM!

The ground knocked the air from his lungs, so much so that the growl he attempted never left his throat. Stark blue eyes landed on the two dogs standing in it's way, blocking his meal. He rose slowly, towering over the smaller - weaker- animals before him. Perk ears twitched as the sound of his meal began to drift farther into the background. He was being challenged and despite his nature to take a stand the dog before him was demanding his respect. The meal would be one that was lost, it became clear as his body lowered itself to the cool dirt. Taking the affection for his good behavior just moments later. His snout lifted up to try and catch the scent in the air, faint but still there, it teased him. Told him that there was still a chance to break free. Still a chance to be as destructive as he wanted without the obstacles that now attempted to coax him into play.

The name "Pasteltongue" will eventually, in character, be Eliott's clever nickname for this odd form of moment-capture empathy that he has never heard of before.

Eliott has always had a natural artistic leaning, an inherited gift from his mother. But he also has a heart for helping people and trying to understand them, and I think that makes him perfect for a form of clairvoyance. Instead of touching or hearing or seeing other people, however, he can look at any piece of canvas art that is not his own - whether it be a masterpiece in the Louvre or a scribble on a kindergarten wall - and feel what the artist was feeling at the time. Eventually it will come to the point where he can "see" the artist making the art because he will pick up the psychic echoes of his/her surroundings as well as his/her own feelings. And, if the art was done specifically as an emotional conduit, the psychic echo of the artist will be strong enough that Eliott can literally have a conversation in his mind with the echo - stuck in a sort of mindmeld with the painting and not able to actually physically move while his consciousness is tuned in to the artist - and be able to interpret their feelings and stimuli.

All of this, of course, assumes that he can actually learn how to master his talent. The gift is suddenly appearing during a crucial part of his development, like all the stress of adulting has unlocked it (or perhaps broken down a wall keeping it tucked away). The triggering incident will probably alarm Eliott and he will possibly think that he is going crazy, as nothing this strong ever happened when he was younger. Discovering the talent will make him question his already tenuous ideas about what his job choices are and whether he will actually be able to handle a career in medicine, or art, or both. Ultimately El will end up doing a lot of soul-searching and really buckle down and discover what he has to do as an adult in the wizarding world with an unusual gift.

What I like most of all about applying for this special feature is that, in much the same way that I am still feeling out the character of Eliott (who I adopted from Kita and haven't had a lot of opportunity or muse to RP thus far), Eliott will be feeling out this bizarre new ability. But the focus will not be solely on the Pasteltongue power. It's more like this is a metaphor for the process by which a teenager or a young man (or woman) suddenly finds himself (or herself) an adult. Like Eliott's planned reaction to being a Pasteltongue/Pastelmouth, new adults often find themselves terrified, clueless, and not sure what they are going to do with their lives anymore. Giving this special feature to Eliott is as much about finding your place in the world as it is about finding your hidden talents.

@Sabrina SassevilleThe entire reason that Eliott wants to become a Healer is because of his sister. She has been weak and sickly from literally the moment she was born, giving the family some bad scares numerous times, but especially recently when she considered taking her own life. Eliott wants to give Sabrina a reason to live that she will accept, and as of right now he can only conclude that is finding a cure, or a better treatment, for the strange malady that ails her. As time goes on Eliott will continue to talk to his sister and try to treat her, and as his Pasteltongue manifests he will be able to understand how she feels by having her paint instead of speaking, circumventing her reticence about sharing the details of her health problems.

@Keichelle SassevilleAs one of Eliott's other sisters, Keichelle, approaches graduation, she too is planning to go into a medical field and indeed has already been accepted at the Jehenne de Brigue Institute. Eliott has applied here as well, but has also been pointed to an internship at Saint Mungo's in England, and he does not know whether he should attend school with his sister or take the early job in another country. The decision that he has to make will be compounded by the discovery of his Pasteltongue talent. As he confides in Keichelle there will probably some tension about Eliott "taking" her dream especially now that he already has something special that sets him apart. With his sister's help or hate, he will have to gauge whether it would be better for him to stay in France where it's familiar, or to distance himself from his family while he transitions into adulthood.

@Maddie GirardA longtime friend of the Sasseville family, Maddie is nearly as close to El as she is to Sabs and Elle. So when she discovers his amazing new ability, she's going to be ridiculously excited and want to constantly paint things for Eliott to examine and talk to for her. She also will be a little jealous about his odd talent and want to have something like that, which could potentially cause a bit of a separation between Maddie and the older Sasseville boy.

@Ségolène LereauxA fellow Beauxbatons graduate a few years older than Eliott, and with a similar gift, Ségolène Lereaux would be someone to whom Eliott could turn when the burdens of his talent prove too much to handle. They can offer support to each other and Ségolène can even try to use some of her own techniques to teach Eliott how to master his newfound power.

@Ben FletcherAs part of his future medical career, whether right away or after some schooling, Eliott will be offered a cooperative apprenticeship ad sciens in a nursing program through St. Mungo's. His assignment and supervisor will be Ben Fletcher, a four (or eventually more) years' experienced Healer, who will be pleasantly helpful teaching Eliott the ropes. When Ben discovers Eliott's power, he will be fascinated by it and will be a major factor in helping Eliott determine how to use his Pasteltongue to help patients. Although Eliott will (hopefully) work with many people at St. Mungo's throughout his training, Ben will be his primary mentor and go-to guy.

@Louise EllingtonOne might think that, after discovering he could read the past through paintings, Eliott would stay away from art galleries. But there is too much of the artist in him, and while interning at St. Mungo's, he won't be able to stop himself from investigating Lou's Gallery in London. Whether this is a one-time event that overloads him, or a recurring thing, is up in the air right now. Much depends on what he sees and feels first, and how shopowner Louise Ellington reacts to Eliott's powers - and if he chooses to confide in her or not.

"This is a really good drawing!" Eliott said to the student that was showing him her artwork. She had come up to him while he was watching the regatta, presumably because one of his siblings or their friends had pointed her in Eliott's direction. A year had passed since he had graduated, and still he had some renown as one of the super artsy painters that had come out of Papillonlisse House. In truth the proportions of the picture were all wrong and the shading was badly done, but for a twelve-year-old with no real training in art, it was pretty decent. Although he wasn't sure what the flowers were supposed to be, they were bunched together very closely and sitting in what appeared to be a beam of sunlight that was making everything much more colourful.

The girl gave him a slight frown and said, "You aren't just saying that? I mean you really think so?"

Eliott chuckled despite himself. Obviously she wanted his valued opinion as an "accomplished" artist, despite the fact that he hadn't been able to land any real painting jobs or commissions since he'd graduated. "Well, let's take another look," he said, and glanced at the painting with a bit more focus. He started examining details, trying to pick up more clues from context of what she was trying to convey. For the most part it seemed to be a nice peaceful picture, but there were a lot of shakes in the shading and an occasional harsh dark line -- when suddenly he was looking at the painting being made from the point-of-view of the female student, focusing on the things she was focusing on while painting it...

This will be pretty and peaceful. I want to use lots of bright lights and colours and make it look like the gardens in Chateoilnot dark like my bedroom Papa says there's a boggart in my closetI think he's trying to scare me cause I never found anythingI sleep better at Beauxbatons because I can't hear Papa andMama fighting all the time I think one of them is hittingI remember how beautiful Chateoil was last June and the nice gentleman tried togive me a flower but he was looking at me funnythis will be crocuses and lilacs because they always stick together with each otherlike a big bunch of flower friendsthose Ombrelune girls are so mean just because I have secondhandrobes and books they think they're better than meI wonder why I was put in Bellefeuille, I want to be an artist when I grow up,can we grow plants indoors or is that not allowed?Aunt Emiline had a Venomous Tentacula before she diedbut I don't think that's what happened to hermaybe those Papillonlisse kids can help meI think I used too much red in this, if I scribble over it in purple maybe it will look okay

Eliott gasped as he jerked his head back away from the drawing, and he felt a pulsing pain between his eyes that probably had something to do with the blurry vision and dizziness he was feeling.

"Uh... I really like these lilacs and... crocuses you drew?" he said uncertainly, and was rewarded by the girl's face transforming into a delighted grin. "They're a really pretty shade of purple."

The girl gasped and jumped up and down, "You like it? Really?"

Eliott managed to rearrange his face into a more convincing smile as he said, "Yes, it's not too red and it's very well-shaded. You have a talent for drawing flowers, sweetie. You should be really proud of this - don't let anyone pick on you or tell you otherwise."

"Oh wow! Thank you thank you thank you!" the girl grabbed her painting (nearly ripping it) and held it tight to her chest, running off to tell someone about the great compliment she had gotten. Eliott smiled after her, but then his face fell as he tried to figure out what on earth had just happened. How had he known what she was drawing... and where had all those other thoughts come from? Had he... picked up on some of her own feelings?